


Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

by Serenova



Series: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon [1]
Category: Sailor Moon - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-16 11:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/861338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenova/pseuds/Serenova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Usagi awakened before anyone else? What if she embraced her past and the powers that came with it. What if Queen Serenity did more than just reincarnate them, but used the Ginzuishou to send what made them THEM forward?</p><p>The Dark Kingdom is breaking free of the bonds Queen Serenity placed on it 100,000 years ago, and now Usagi must face her destiny, find the other Senshi and defeat them once and for all.</p><p>Based more off the manga with some headcannon and fancannon mixed in. AU. </p><p>There is some language that might offend younger people, but other than that it's pretty clean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter one of a rather extensive series I'm working that is my reimagining of the whole Sailor Moon series from start to end.
> 
> I've taken a little bit of this and that and some of my own ideas and those in the fandom (with a heavy influence from the Manga rather than the anime) and wrapped it all up together in this. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> This chapter has Usagi dreaming of her past life and awakening because of it.
> 
> Enjoy.

Usagi woke with a start just after midnight, her labored breathing and pounding heart sounding loud in her quiet room. She had just had a nightmare that had chilled her to the bone. It was eerily familiar in a way that she could not understand. As Usagi thought back on the dream two images flashed through her mind. One was of a young man she did not recognize in armor defending her. The second was of a group of girls in what appeared to be different colored uniforms, fighting a red-headed woman surrounded by a black cloud.

Suddenly, drawn by a force she did not understand, but felt she had to obey, Usagi stood and dressed. Then she snuck out of the house. Normally she would never have considered leaving the house in the middle of the night; in fact she normally would have just rolled over and gone back to sleep, but something about this dream, the images in her mind, and a plain and simple gut feeling, led to this very un-Usagi like act. As Usagi started walking down the street outside, something drew her gaze toward the full Moon. Suddenly the moon seemed to shimmer with a silver light and Usagi was gone from the sidewalk.

Usagi stumbled at the sudden change in scenery and looked around in shock. She stood on a grey plain, ruined pillars and buildings all around. All of it tickled something in the back of her mind. Almost as if she had been there before. As she continued to look around her gaze lifted to the sky. She gasped in shock to see the Earth hanging above her in the star-filled sky.

“I’m on the _Moon_?!” Usagi asked herself incredulously.

“Welcome, my daughter,” said a voice from behind Usagi.

The voice seemed to pull at her memory and make her heart skip a beat to be hearing it again as Usagi spun around to face a tall woman. She looked extremely familiar but Usagi could not place why. She wore her long silver hair in two buns like the style Usagi had always favored, and she wore a simple silver dress with a light purple bow in the front. Then, another woman stepped up next to the first. This second woman was wearing a uniform like the ones in Usagi’s dream, with a white body suit and dark green almost black skirt and collar accenting with garnet colored bows and a chain holding keys around her waist. She was holding a long key-like staff in her right hand and had long dark green hair, half pulled back into a single bun. This second woman tapped her long staff against the ground. Usagi’s eyes widened with shock and recognition as memory after memory crashed through her mind and she promptly crumpled.

The first woman turned to the second. “Thank you for bringing her here,” she said. “I will call you when it is time to return her.”

The second, uniformed woman bowed. “As you wish, Your Highness,” And she vanished from sight.

* * *

 

Sometime later Usagi awoke to find herself in what had been a bedroom and she was lying on the remains of what at one time had been a large four poster bed. The first woman from earlier was standing, looking out through a ruined archway, and turned as Usagi stood.

“Mother?” Usagi asked in Lunarian, shocked to see the woman that had once been her mother, standing there. Usagi’s mind had gone into overdrive trying to process everything at once, past and present trying to reconcile within her mind.

Queen Serenity, last ruler of the Silver Millennium stood and nodded. The Queen then found herself being hugged so hard she thought she might have to pry the girl off of her. The Queen laughed musically as she cradled her daughter. Remembering the last time she held her daughter like this the Queen sobered.

“My Daughter, I have failed you," Queen Serenity said quietly in the same language Usagi had spoken. Usagi shook her head against the Queen. “But I have, little one,” she continued. “I could not save you or our kingdom. And in the end I could not even save myself."

  
Usagi looked at her in shock. “But you’re here!” She said. “I can touch you!”

The Queen smiled sadly. “No, my dear,” she said. “I am only a spirit now. If I was to leave the palace grounds I would no longer have form. My spirit is bound to these lands and it cannot be undone.”

"Mother… what did you _do_?” Usagi asked finally letting go of her mother and looking out at the ruins of the palace that had once been her home. She remembered the battle and what had happened to drive them all to their deaths. Usagi suddenly sobbed. “I’m so sorry mother," She said with tears in her eyes, "I should have thought about the consequences before doing what I did.” The Queen stepped up next to Usagi and wrapped a bare arm around her shoulders trying to comfort the crying girl.

“You had no way of knowing what would happen after you died. Only Pluto could have known, and you know how she is,” she said as mother and daughter shared a dry chuckle, both thinking of the stoic Guardian of Time and how she would never tell them anything when they wanted to know.

“Why did you have Pluto bring me mother? I just dreamt of the Fall tonight. Why so soon?” Usagi asked.

Queen Serenity took Usagi’s hand and guided her out of the door and down a couple of still standing halls, until they reached a circle of destruction. In the center stood a broken crystal pillar. The Queen stepped into the circle, followed by Usagi. But when Usagi stepped into the circle her clothing shimmered to form an off the shoulder white gown, a crescent Moon formed on her brow and her hair turned silver to match the Queens. Usagi stopped short, darker blue eyes wide and Princess Serenity stood in her place.

“Wha-?” Princess Serenity began, before trailing off in confusion.

Queen Serenity smiled at her. “By coming here you have gained the ability to become who you once were. To become what destiny chose for you. The Crystal Tower, though shattered, has restored your ability to be the Princess of the Moon, and is what has kept my spirit here all these years.” The Queen pointed at the base of the blackened crystal tower. “When I used the Ginzuishô to try and seal Metallia away, the Tower shattered from the force of evil I was trying to contain. With you and Prince Endymion dead, and your Sailor Senshi also dead, I did the only thing I could. I sent all of you and as much of this Moon kingdom forward as I could. Looking for a place where all of you could grow up together. And where you could find your Prince again, and be able to have the love that you lost. But the power to keep you all safe came at a great price for me,” The Queen sighed, eyes sad. “The power it took to both seal the Dark Kingdom away and send you all forward came at the price of my life.”

Serenity watched her mother say this as she knelt at the base of the shattered tower. “But why have Pluto bring me here tonight?” She asked again, stepping closer to her mother. “I only just dreamed of my last moments tonight and then not very clearly,” The Princess said confusion evident in her voice, she wanted to understand.

Queen Serenity suddenly looked very somber. “I had Pluto bring you here because you should not have awakened until your eighteenth birthday. The fact that you dreamed of your last moments now, two years before you should have slowly remembered, means that the Dark Kingdom has escaped from the seal I put on them so long ago. My seal held for a hundred thousand years while humanity developed anew, but now they have escaped. And Beryl has captured four souls that I never wanted to see in her hands again.”

Serenity gasped, “The Shitennou?”

Queen Serenity nodded sadly, “I healed them before sending them forward. But it seems Prince Endymion’s most trusted advisor's and friends were ensnared again by Beryl. I send them forward so that your Senshi, as well, could have a chance at love lost.” The Queen held a hand out to her daughter as she stood. Princess Serenity stepped forward and grasped her mothers hand.

The two stood there for a moment enjoying one another's presence. Then the Queen shut her eyes in concentration and Serenity could feel the power slowly start to build. And she watched as a compact formed in the air between them. Once it had completely coalesced between them the Queen took it before it could drop to the ground and flipped it open. There was a space inside that looked like it should hold a jewel and the Serenity suddenly knew that the compact was for her.

“Unfortunately, you are going to have to fight Metallia and her minions,” The Queen said, sounding like she would like nothing more than to take her daughters burden from her, “You are going to have to find the Senshi and awaken their powers. Luna will help I sent her and Artemis to Earth as well look for her, you will need her. I have also given you the power to become a Senshi. You cannot reveal who you are to the world. You may tell your Senshi but they must understand the need for secrecy about your identity.” The Queen shut the compact with a snap and held it out to her daughter. “This is your transformation broach. You will need it to transform into Sailor Moon. Your activation words are _Moon Power, Make Up!_ ” then she smiled. “Try it.”

Princess Serenity looked at her mother dumbfounded. Shaking her head a bit to clear her thoughts she took a step back away from her mother. The Princess raised the broach to the sky and called out _“Moon Power, Make Up!”_ and gasped as the transformation took place. Her dress melted away to be replaced by a white body suit with a blue collar and skirt, with a red bow in front and back, followed by elbow length gloves and knee high red boots. Red jewels appeared on her buns, white hair clips and a gold tiara, with a crescent moon in the center settled into place, her hair going back to blonde. All this happened in a spit second flash of light and as the light faded Sailor Moon looked down at herself. “I look like a combination of Mars and Mercury,” she said, with a small smile.

The Queen chuckled dryly, "This is the first time since my grandmother's time that we have had to call on the power of the Moon to create a Senshi of our own."

"You mean _you_ could have been a Senshi?" Sailor Moon asked surprised, her mother had never told her during the Millennium.

"Indeed I could have been, but there was no need for me to have the power and by the time it was needed you had already fallen. But now you can take up the mantle of the Senshi of the Moon. Hold your head proud at your position and always remember where the power comes from."

Moon nodded and smiled, "I will," She promised.

Queen Serenity smiled slightly as well, though there was sadness in it, “Now, I have kept you here long enough. It is time for you to return home.”

 _I am home!_ Sailor Moon wanted to say, but she only nodded her head and let her new transformation go. In doing so she also changed back into Usagi.

 _Setsuna!_ Usagi heard the Queen call silently. _It is time._

Usagi sniffed and hugged the Queen. “If you need guidance, just call,” The Queen said tapping her temple to show Usagi what she meant. “Remember, no one is to know that you are the Princess, besides your court. And you are going to have to find the Ginzuishô on your own I hid it so that the Dark Kingdom would not be able to find it. But that also means that I cannot tell you where it is because Selene forbid they might find a way to get the information out of you. And I don’t want anything to happen to my daughter.”

Usagi nodded, “Not one little hint?” she asked plaintively as Sailor Pluto appeared behind the Queen. The Queen shook her head with a smile.

Pluto opened a portal with a small smile, and waved Usagi toward it. Usagi walked toward the portal, and when she got there reached out and gave Pluto a hug which the stoic Guardian of Time returned warmly, “Its good to have you back, Princess,” the Senshi told her.

“Just remember,” Queen Serenity said, “The crystal will follow your heart.” She smiled at Usagi one last time, and the now confused girl stepped into the portal.

Before she knew it, Usagi was standing on the sidewalk this all started on, with the feeling almost no time had passed. _Thank you Setsuna!_ Usagi thought, knowing the Senshi of Time had pulled a little trick of her own and she smiled when she felt Pluto's laugh in her mind.

Usagi returned home and climbed back into bed, as though she had never left, but before she fell asleep she realized that she had no way of finding the other Senshi.

At the same time Usagi was falling asleep back asleep after her midnight trip, a small black cat sat on the sidewalk outside thinking hard, the crescent Moon on its forehead glowing slightly.


	2. Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Events start to happen, triggered by Usagi awakening as Serenity. What she doesn't yet know is that the reason they keep attacking Tokyo is that they can sense the power of those from the Silver Millenium, even if they can't find them.

Usagi awoke the next morning in a bit of a daze, and slightly confused, for a moment she did not know where she was. Did I dream that? She thought rolling to one side. But then she caught sight of the golden broach on her nightstand and she knew it was not a dream. Realizing that she had actually woken up on time, Usagi took extra time brushing her hair and getting dressed.

Walking down the stairs, she startled her mother, who had just been ready to start the morning routine of wake-Usagi-up-a-million-times to get her out the door routine. Ikuko held her palm to her daughters forehead and Usagi hm-phed.

“What?” Usagi asked her mother.

“Just seeing if you have a fever dear,” Ikuko replied.

“Okaa-san!” Usagi whined. “Just cause I’m up early doesn’t mean I’m sick!” she continued.

“So why is my sleepy-head up so early?”

Usagi paused in answering her mother. _What do I tell her? She asked herself. That I dreamt of committing suicide and was transported to the Moon to speak to my deceased mother?_

“I just had an interesting dream,” She finally said.

“Oh?” Ikuko inquired, “What about?”

“I don’t remember,” Usagi said, smiling to herself. Her mother sweat-dropped and Shingo, who had just walked in, face faulted at the statement.

Ikuko shook her head at the typical Usagi comment. “Well at least you get to eat breakfast this morning,” she told her daughter. Usagi nodded her head and dug into the food on the table, her brother digging into his own plate.

After actually eating breakfast at a sane pace, Usagi left her house and actually walked, not ran, walked toward school. Little did Usagi know the black cat that had watched her when she returned last night was now following her.

* * *

Turning a corner Usagi walked right into someone coming from the opposite direction. Usagi stumbled back a couple of steps from the impact.

“Hey, watch where you're going,” a male voice said.

Usagi looked up and froze for a second. A single face from the past flashed through her mind. Realizing she was staring Usagi bowed an apology, “Sorry…” she said.

The older teen for he was just a teen just waved his hand in an apology accepted way and started walking on. Usagi turned to watch as he walked away. A single word escaped her lips, “Endymion,” she whispered. There was no way she was mistaken. His aura was a dead giveaway - if you knew what to look for.

He stopped and looked at her, almost as if he had heard her, but then turned slowly and continued walking away. Usagi smacked herself in the forehead. “I can’t believe I just said that!” she whined at herself. Turning Usagi marched off toward her school.

Walking through the front gate of the school, Usagi caught sight of her best friend Osaka, Naru and also Gurio, Umino. “Naru-chan! Umino-kun!” Usagi called.

“Usagi-chan!” Naru called back. “You’re here early.” Umino just gave Usagi a nod, his face buried in the book he was holding.

“Yeah,” Usagi said, “I just couldn’t sleep in this morning, had a bad dream.”

Naru looked at Usagi sympathetically as the warning bell rang, and they rushed to get to class on time. Usagi and Naru slipped into their homeroom seats just as the bell rang, while it seemed Umino had somehow made it there before them, and their teacher complimented Usagi on being on time for once. The rest of the day went smoothly, considering what Usagi had to think about.

At lunch Usagi could have sworn she saw a familiar black cat watching her, but when she blinked, the cat was gone, and Usagi thought that her mind might be playing tricks on her.

* * *

After school Usagi headed to the Crown Princess Arcade, wanted to take her mind off of things. When she reached the arcade, she got some change from Motoki at the counter and popped a coin into her favorite Sailor V game and began playing.

Not two minutes into her game, a storefront across the street exploded in a shower of glass. Usagi sat bolt upright on her stool when she felt the negative energy now emitting from the store. She joined Motoki in the rush to get outside to see what happened. Nobody on the street was badly injured, but people were confused and people were running out of the shop. Usagi ran into an alley nearby, and ducked behind a dumpster. Grabbing her broach, which she now carried with her, she raised it to the sky.

“ _Moon Power, Make UP!_ ” Usagi said quietly, toning down the power of the transformation, so as not to draw attention to herself with the bright flash of light. When the light faded, Usagi, now Sailor Moon, jumped to the roof of the building the arcade was in so she would watch the action below.

While she transformed some paramedics had arrived, and were treating the injured. Looking at the shop with the blown out windows Sailor Moon sighed. She recognized one of the two energy signals. She had hoped that her mother was wrong about the Shitennou, but there was no mistaking Jadeites energy signature, it was fiery, just like Mars had been.

Sailor Moon leapt from the top of the building to the sidewalk in front of the store, landing in a half crouch, left leg bent beneath her to take the impact, right leg spread out to her side, her left arm was also extended for balance and her right hand was placed on the ground to give her stability. People gasped at her sudden appearance and the way she was dressed. Also the fact that she basically dropped out of the sky probably had something to do with it as well. Phones were immediately out among the crowd though as people began snapping picture and video of the odd occurrences.

“Oi, Jadeite!” Sailor Moon called, raising from the crouch she landed in, conscious of the crowd, and peering into the shop. “I am Sailor Moon. For the murder of the Senshi of Mars, you will be punished!” She called, holding out a hand and sending a burst of energy into the shop, hoping that it would be enough to get his attention.

A man with short, dirty blond hair appeared in front of Sailor Moon. “Who the hell are you?” Jadeite asked.

_Selene give me strength,_ Sailor Moon thought. “I am Sailor Moon,” she said again.

“There is no Sailor Moon, she wasn’t on the Moon,” Jadeite said. Though his memories of the Silver Millennium were fuzzy and sparse - thanks to Beryls brainwashing and being reincarnated - he did not remember a senshi of the Moon. He could hear Beryl in the back of his mind, telling him to _Remove the problem_ and he got ready to attack.

Sailor Moon saw him flex his hand and knew what would be coming. “Why don’t we take this elsewhere?” Sailor Moon asked making Jadeite pause and forestalling his attack, hoping Jadeite would be willing to fight somewhere else, instead of on this crowded street with hundreds of spectators. “I don’t want to be too crowded,” she added, trying to convince him.

“Fine,” and with that Jadeite teleported away. Sailor Moon also teleported, following his energy signature to the park and appeared in front of him.

Before she had time to get her bearings, Jadeite attacked. He threw a ball of energy at her like a baseball, but she managed to dodge in time, sending her own blast back at him in response.

Sailor Moon was thinking hard. She could not kill Jadeite. She did not have the Ginzuishô to heal him. So all she could do was stall. _Mother!_ Sailor Moon called silently, begging for some advice.

_Use your tiara,_ came the faint voice from the Moon. _You can attack with it, and it should drive him away for now._

Following her mothers advice, Sailor Moon pulled of her tiara, and watched it form a glowing disk in her palm "Well that's new," she commented before spinning and she throwing it at Jadeite, yelling “Moon Tiara Action!”

It hit Jadeite square in the chest. He stumbled back, stunned. Growling at her he looked ready to kill. But it was not to be that day. Jadeites eyes went blank with his masters call and he suddenly teleported away leaving Sailor Moon alone in the park. So she teleported back to the arcade, this time appearing on the roof of the building so as not to draw attention.

She scanned the area for any remaining dark energy, but the youma that had accompanied Jadeite had disappeared for which she was thankful. The crowd had also begun to disperse as workers began to clean up the glass and a few reporters were already on the scene of the strange occurrence. Sailor Moon descended into the alley next to the arcade and de-transformed. Intent on going back to her game, she walked back in the door to the arcade.

“Get lost in the crowd?” Motoki asked her as she sat back down at her favorite machine.

“Something like that,” Usagi answered with a small smile. She sat down and popped another coin in the slot, intent on getting her mind off of current events, even if only for a little while.

* * *

On her way home from the arcade Usagi had the distinct sensation that she was being followed. But every time she turned around to see if anyone was there, the street was empty.

She made it home fine, and except for being tired from the energy she used during her scuffle with Jadeite. You could not really call it a fight. And besides, she was still getting used to being a Senshi. She had never fought during the Millennium. Though she had had self defense, and magical combat training, among other magical training, she was not sure of her ability to best another in a confrontation.

Usagi knew she would have to increase her fighting skills if she was to survive the Dark Kingdom this time around. She distractedly went through her homework that night, trying to think about how she is going to become a better fighter.

Later that night, Usagi lay drifting off to sleep, with that same black cat watching her through her window.

* * *

Usagi dreamt. She was back on the Moon and she knew that she was dreaming - there was a care-free quality to the atmosphere that gave it away slightly. Though the main reason she knew she was dreaming was that the Moon kingdom looked like it had during the Millennium.

Usagi knew, now, that if you were to look at the Moon now you would not see the remains of anything there. But she also knew that Queen Serenity had hidden the remains of their kingdom from prying eyes, waiting for the time that she knew it would be restored. Usagi had the feeling that only Pluto knew when that would happen, and that she would not know for some time.

Starting to walk around Usagi realized that she was garbed in her Princess dress. The long gown swirling elegantly around her legs as she strolled through the gardens of the Millennium, enjoying sights and sounds that had not been seen in a hundred thousand years. Turning her head she realized that her hair was also silver and she could only assume that there was a crescent Moon on her brow, making her no longer Usagi but Serenity.

After what seemed like hours strolling the garden, Serenity finally entered the Palace itself. Walking the long marble halls, Serenity found it deserted. Though not unexpected, after all she _knew_ she was dreaming, it was still slightly sad. She remembered when she was still alive as Serenity and how the castle always buzzed with activity, at all hours of the day.

She found her way to the main throne room, only to find her mother sitting on the throne.

Queen Serenity looked up when she heard Serenity enter the room. She held her arms open, and her daughter ran into them, hugging her former mother tightly.

“You were thinking awfully loudly today,” the Queen said by way of a greeting.

Serenity smiled and had the decency to looked embarrassed, “You gave me a lot to think about last night," She replied.

Queen Serenity chuckled. “I apologize my dear. You were not supposed to remember this way. In another two years, you were supposed to slowly regain your memories and look for Endymion. I did not want you fighting this war. I had hoped that when I sealed the Dark Kingdom away they would stay there, but apparently their strength is greater than I thought.” The Queen sobered as she spoke. You could almost see her regret that she felt about the fact that her daughter now had to fight. “On a more upbeat note,” The Queen said, smiling again. “I overheard your thought about fighting the Shitennou and youma, so I’ve decided that tonight you’re going to get some proper training in using Senshi powers.”

Serenity groaned. She knew that look in her mothers eye. Stepping aside as Queen Serenity stepped off the dais she followed her mother as she walked through the corridors of the palace. They finally came to a set of ornately carved doors. Serenity started tearing at the sight.

This was the dojo where the Senshi would train during the Millennium. She had been in there more times than she could count but seeing it now reminder her how alone she currently was in her current life. How she wished the scouts would awaken soon, she wanted her friends back. Sure she had Naru-chan and Umino-kun and her other Earth friends but she could not share with them who she was. At least not at this point in time and Serenity wanted nothing more than someone she could talk to on Earth.

Queen Serenity, seeing the look on her daughters face smiled a sad smile. She felt guilty for all her daughter had to go through and all that she would go through before everything was at peace. Sailor Pluto had given the Queen some hints as to what was to come and she knew that her daughter would need all the help and power she could get.

“Shall we?” Queen Serenity said gently, dragging her daughter back from her thoughts.

Serenity could only nod and the doors swung inward silently at the light push of the Queen. Realizing she did not have her broach Serenity turned toward her mother. Queen Serenity held out a hand and the transformation broach appeared in her palm. Serenity took it with a nervous giggle, “Thanks,” she said quietly.

“Now,” The Queen said, clapping her hands, “Lets get you started.” Serenity nodded and transformed.

Serenity never could quite tell how long she spent with her mother training in the Senshi’s dojo but eventually her mother called a halt to it all. “Its almost time for you to get up,” The Queen said with a smile.

Nodding Serenity powered down from being Sailor Moon. “I’m glad I came tonight,” she said.

Queen Serenity wrapped her daughter in a hug. “I’m glad you did too sweetheart.”

Serenity returned her mothers hug. “I wish you could come back with me,” she said into the queens shoulder, being shorter than her mother.

“I wish I could too,” The queen said, “But I am bound to the palace ruins. What you see here was created from our memories and I cannot leave here either.”

Serenity nodded her understanding. She may not have liked it, but at least she was getting to see and talk to her first mother. And for the time being, that was enough. Felling a mental tug she sighed, “I suppose I have to go now,” she said sadly, not wanting to leave the sights of her lost and forgotten kingdom.

“That you do,” The queen said, and placed a kiss on her brow, right on her crescent Moon. The Queen smiled as her daughter faded away. And as Serenity faded so did the illusion of what was around them. Reality seemed to melt until Queen Serenity was once again standing in the ruins of her palace, looking up at the Earth above her. “Selene protect her,” The Queen whispered before she too, faded from sight to rest. And as the Queen faded so did the ruins about her until nothing was to be seen but grey Lunar dust.


	3. Luna's Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With a new classmate, Usagi begins to believe that nothing is coincidence. And after running into Mamoru again, she's probably right.
> 
> The Moon holds many secrets and it might just be what's needed to unlock a certain feline's memories.

Usagi blinked her eyes in the light coming from the open window. Briefly she wondered where she was before realizing she was back in her bedroom on Earth. Sighing Usagi sat up in her bed and ran a hand over her face. She had a lot to think about. Glancing at the clock she saw she was up early again, though not as early as the day before.

Slowly, Usagi dragged herself out of bed and began getting ready for the day. Once she was dressed she sat down at her vanity to put her hair up. Usagi noticed that it seemed longer than it had before as she began to brush her hair. Looking in the mirror she froze. The early morning sun was shining through her window and had landed on her as she sat on the low stool. But what made her freeze was that her hair now had a silver tint to it. Oh, it wasn’t noticeable other than in direct sunlight, but her hair was overall lighter in color and it had a silver sheen to it that had not been there two days previous.

Usagi swore. Long and as loud as she dared, in Lunarian. With language that she was not supposed to know, and was sure Queen Serenity would punish her for if she found out about it. _Great, just great,_ she thought to herself.

Her tirade was cut short by her mother though. “Usagi!” Ikuko called from downstairs, “You’re going to be late for school if you don’t hurry!”

“Be there in a minute Okaa-san!” Usagi called back downstairs. Mumbling and grumbling under her breath in Lunarian again, Usagi quickly put her now noticeably - to her - longer and lighter hair up in its usual buns before pinning her transformation broach to the bow on her uniform. Checking that everything was in her bag Usagi tore down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Slow down dummy,” Shingo said from his seat at the kitchen table.

“Why you!” Usagi yelled at her brother. Shingo just ignored her, having heard this almost every morning of his life.

“Usagi, you’re going to be late!” Ikuko reminder her daughter, handing over her lunch.

Usagi took it with a smile, “Thanks Okaa-san!”

“Youre welcome, now get going,” Ikuko said. Spinning on her heel Usagi quickly made her way to the front door. Slipping into her shoes she heard her mother call, “Have a good day!”

“Yeah!” Usagi called back and was out the door like a bolt.

* * *

 

Just a block away from school, as Usagi was tearing around a corner, she hit somebody so hard that both she and the other person fell over. “Watch it odango-atama!” Came a male voice. Usagi looked at the other person as they both stood up, “Oh, it’s you again,” the older teen said. For it was the same teen as the day before. Once again Usagi had an image of Endymion flash through her mind.

“Don’t call me odango-atama!” Usagi almost yelled at him, her anger getting the best of her for a moment. Usagi turned on her heel and was about to continue on her way to school when the teen grabbed her arm.

“What was that name you called me yesterday?” He asked and Usagi froze.

“I- I d-don’t know what you’re t-talking about,” Usagi stuttered out, trying not to look at him, his aura was making it hard for her to breathe with all of the emotion rolling under the surface. His familiarity almost stole her breath away. Mentally she pushed his aura away with her own, she felt like she would get overwhelmed if she did not.

He blinked at the sudden change in the energy around him but soon refocused on the blonde. “Bull,” He said, grip on her arm tightening slightly. “What did you call me?” He asked again.

Usagi could feel herself starting to get emotional, the battle of wills was too much for her. She could not lie but she couldn’t tell him the whole truth either, “E-Endymion,” She whispered so quietly that he had to strain to hear it.

“How do you know that name?!” He almost yelled at her finally letting go of her arm. Usagi took a step away from him and felt instant relief from his energy around her. He blinked again at the change in the air around them.

They both froze as the warning bell for Usagi’s school sounded. “When you know who I was, you’ll know,” Usagi said cryptically, surprised she could keep her voice even, before turning and running off to class. The older teen was left standing on the sidewalk. How did this girl know the name he only heard in his dreams? Who _is_ she? He was late for his own classes that day.

* * *

 

Usagi barely managed to avoid detention. She had only been block from the school when she had had her encounter and had put on a spurt of Senshi speed to get there in time. Usagi took her normal seat next to Naru just as the bell rang. After their sensei took roll he announced that they had a new student joining them. She just transferred from a private school and he hoped that they would all welcome her. The teacher then waved the new girl in. She walked to the front of the class and bowed, her short blue hair bouncing slightly on her head.

“Hello,” she said. “My name is Mizuno, Ami," she added politely, her blue eyes locked on the floor.

Usagi had not been paying much attention until the girl walked into the room. She had decided to try and contact the Senshi by sending them dreams to awaken them when the change in the rooms energy caught her attention and she looked up and had her first shock of the day. _I can_ _’t believe it!_ Usagi thought to herself. _I quite literally run into my prince two mornings in a row, and then I have the brainiest member of my court end up in my class!_ Usagi smiled in her head. _I wonder if Mother has anything to do with it or maybe Pluto, she does control Time and Space after all._ Usagi knew without a doubt that the girl standing shyly in front of the class was Sailor Mercury. It was not just the way she looked or her blue hair, no, her aura said who she was for the whole world to know if they knew what Sailor Mercury felt like. Of course there was only one person in the room, to her knowledge, that could see aura's and she was most definitely the only person that would recognize Mercury beneath the studious exterior.

Usagi focused her gaze on the bluenette when Ami took the vacant seat on her left and held out a hand in greeting, “Hi, I’m Tsukino, Usagi.”

Ami smiled and shook her hand, “Hello,” she said quietly.

Usagi smiled brightly at her and Ami turned to face the front a slight blush staining her cheeks.

Ami seemed to have latched onto Usagi and by the end of the day she was chatting with Usagi, Naru, and Umino especially, because of how smart Umino and she were.

* * *

 

Usagi showed Ami around a bit after class and walked her to her cram school when 4pm rolled around. Usagi said goodbye at the door and watched Ami head in. Usagi stood there for quite a while, trying to figure out how to tell her about the past when she felt a surge of negative energy coming from the 3rd floor of the building Ami was now in; and Usagi knew that a Dark Kingdom Youma had appeared.

Ducking out of sight Usagi transformed with a muted flash, and teleported herself to the hallway outside the classroom. Pushing the door open Sailor Moon rushed in, only to stop short.

Moon cringed mentally at the sight in the classroom. Most of the students were slumped on their desks, their energy apparently being drained. Ami was looking around in surprise at her fellow students. Moon knew immediately that the teacher was a youma, between the evil aura and how thin and butt ugly the "woman" was starting to look it was no surprise.

With barely a warning the youma shed its guise of the teacher and had morphed into something dark and sickly looking, before grabbing Ami around the neck.

"Why aren't you drained like the others?" It demanded of her.

Ami clawed at the hand around her throat, trying to breath, "Because," She managed to wheeze out, "I don't need a computer to study!"

Furious the youma smashed Ami's head into the desk and then pulled her back up. There were tears leaking out of the corner of Ami's eyes from the pain.

"STOP!" Sailor Moon shouted before the youma could do anymore damage to her friend.

The youma looked up at Sailor Moon, clearly surprised that someone would dare interrupt its draining the energy of the students. "Who are you?" The youma asked with venom in its voice.

"I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Love and Justice," Moon said, using the phrase that her and her mother had come up with the night before. All the senshi were champions of _something_ so it was decided that Sailor Moon needed to be as well, and that was as good as any of the other Senshi’s.

The youma sneered at her, "I heard about you from Jaedite, you're nothing," it said before shoving Ami to the ground and leaping at Sailor Moon.

Moon ducked out of the way and the youma crashed into the wall of the classroom before spinning to face her. _I can't use my tiara in here,_ Moon thought to herself frantically, _there's not enough room._ Usagi's eyes widened as a blast headed straight for her face, she ducked again, rolling to her right, before she came to one knee, gathering energy in her left palm.

"Dammit, where are those Mau when you need them?" She muttered to herself, Luna and Artemis would have been the perfect distraction to buy her some time, and they would have come up with some kind of plan to take this thing, she did not have a tactical mind in the least and the royal advisor's input would have been very much appreciated right then. Once she was righted it took only a moment to gather a compact sphere of energy the size of a softball which contained a rather nasty spell she’d learned as Serenity. Sailor Moon lunged to her feet and threw the ball of energy at the youma.

It hit the youma square in the chest, causing it to disintegrate into a pile of dust that then dissolved into nothing, leaving bare carpet.

With the youma's destruction, the students regained a healthy looking color to their skin, but they showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. Moon was not surprised, having your energy drained could be tiring after all. Turning to look at her friend, Moon could have sworn she saw a small black form jump out one of the windows in the classroom.

"Are you alright, Ami?" Moon asked, kneeling down next to her friend. There was a red bump on her forehead but what caused Moon's breath to catch was the symbol of Mercury glowing slightly in the center of her friend's forehead.

Ami slowly opened her eyes and looked at Sailor Moon, her eyes widened in surprise at the other girls appearance, "Wh-who are you?" She stuttered out, obviously shaken by the afternoon's events.

"I'm Sailor Moon," Moon said gently, not wanting to reveal herself too soon. She watched as the symbol faded from Ami's forehead as the girl regained her senses. Sailor Moon did not want to wake the other scouts without being able to give them their ability to transform. According to her mother, Luna had their transformation wands and so she needed to find the cat before awakening the other scouts.

"Sailor Moon?" Ami asked rhetorically, she'd heard the girl fine; it was just an odd name. "Weren't you on the news last night?"

Moon giggled slightly, she had, indeed made the news that night. Her little speech has been caught by a few security cameras in the area, and the many cell phones of people on the street and the news had played it again and again trying to understand why she said what she had said and what she could have been referring to. Moon was glad that they had only caught her image from behind. "I was indeed," she answered gently, and helped Ami stand. "Are you going to be alright?" She asked, concern showing in her face. "You took a nasty bump from that youma," she added, not entirely helpfully.

Ami gasped as she realized what had indeed happened in the classroom. Her eyes started to fill with tears at the thought of the monster, "Is it really gone?" She asked in a watery voice, obviously trying to hold back the tears, "And how to you know my name?" She added as she thought through what she had been told.

Sailor Moon smiled gently, "It's gone, don't worry about that. As to how I know your name, that's my secret," She said with a wink. "Now I really must be going," She added, seeing that some of the students were starting to wake up. "You take care of yourself Ami, and believe me when I say we'll meet again."

With that she left a very surprised Ami standing next to her desk as Sailor Moon teleported to the roof of the building. Ami quickly packed her things and left, going home early for once. She had a lot to think about. And that night she would dream. Dream of a white-walled palace and a group of girls and a princess she cared dearly for. Dream of something that terrified her, dream of a life she once lived, and dream of a Princess calling her name.

* * *

 

De-transforming Usagi sat herself down on the edge of the roof looking out at the street below her. After a few minutes of silent contemplation staring down at the people and cars passing by, Usagi stood and gathered her energy and teleported home, not wanting to deal with the crowds of the streets that evening.

Later that night, after she thought the rest of her family was asleep, Usagi crept outside and sat on the steps of her families small back porch, looking at the Moon. Seeing the structures on its surface, following the outline of the royal complex with her eyes, the palace, its outer walls, the shrine to the royal families patron goddess, Selene, from who the royal line descended, then over to the Sea of Serenity which at one time was an actual sea, and the ruins of buildings along its edge, how she missed that place. Usagi knew she was probably the only person in the whole world that could see its beauty that night.

“How do you know about Mau?” a quiet feminine voice said from behind Usagi.

Usagi jumped to her feet and spun around in surprise, her hair flowing around her and came face to face with a black cat with blue eyes and a gold crescent on its forehead. She was sitting on a low branch belonging to a tree close to the porch.

“Luna?” Usagi asked incredulously.

The cat started, surprised. “How do you know that?” she asked.

Usagi did not hear her question. As soon as she was sure of her eyes she had run over and scooped that cat up and was giving her a bone-crushing hug. “I thought it’d take weeks to find you!” she cried hugging the cat close.

Luna on the other hand was completely perplexed. Who was this girl and how did she know who she was?

Usagi finally stopped squeezing the life out of poor Luna and held her up to her face. “You don’t know who I am, do you?” she asked seriously, her expression slightly sad. She put Luna down on the porch and stood in front of her. Usagi had a feeling that might have been the case, her mother had mentioned during her training session the previous night that in order to keep Luna and Artemis safe Queen Serenity had put a block on their true memories and only left them with a general impression of Princess Serenity, it was to protect her as much as them if anything were to happen to them. _I didn_ _’t think I’d have to tell her though_ , Usagi thought to herself.

“No,” Luna shook her head, sitting primly on the porch, tail curled around her paws.

Usagi took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she knew was going to be Luna's reaction, “It’s me, Serenity,” she said.

“Impossible!” Luna said, and Usagi knew she was right on about Luna's reaction, but she could not help but smile mentally that some things never changed. “The princess was supposed to be sealed away!”

“Not impossible," Usagi said quietly, "I dreamed of the last night of the Silver Millennium. I dreamed of Beryl killing Endymion, and of the Senshi not being able to fend of Mettalia,” Usagi had tears in her eyes from thinking about that night, “And I remember killing myself. I remember everything from the Millennium.” Usagi paused before adding in Lunarian, “Trust me, Luna, please?”

The cat started at her use of the Lunarian language. Luna was not sure what to do. Here was a girl that looked almost like what she thought the Princess should look like, and on top of that she knew what had happened during the Millennium. Luna had clear memories of all the scouts, but could not remember the Princess clearly and Luna suspected that the Queen had something to do with it. She also _knew_ that there was not a "Sailor Moon" during the Millennium and figured the girl might be the Princess.

"Prove it to me," Luna finally said, her tone hopeful. "I want to believe you’re the princess, I really do, but I can't until I have proof," she added.

Usagi took a step back, “I’ll show you,” she said and after a quick look around to see that no one was watching, closed her eyes in concentration.

A soft silver glow began to surround her. Usagi’s pajamas changed to form a white flowing gown, a crescent Moon appeared on her forehead, and her hair bled completely silver. When Usagi opened her eyes they were a darker blue and Serenity stood in her place.

Luna stood there in shock. The mental fog that had plagued her faded away and everything was finally clear to her. Bowing, she said, “I shouldn’t have doubted you, your highness.”

Serenity knelt down and held her arms open in an invitation that Luna gladly took and jumped into Serenity’s arms. “It’s okay, Luna,” she said, giving the cat a little squeeze, like a hug for comfort, “You had no way of knowing for sure who I was, the Queen blocked your memories for a reason, to keep both of us safe.”

“But I should have recognized you,” the cat objected, "You still look so much like the Queen. You even look almost the same as you did on the Moon.”

Serenity shifted back to Usagi, Luna still snuggled in her arms. “I prefer not to hold my princess form for long, I haven’t found the Ginzuishô yet and my aura is powerful enough to draw attention if I stay that way for too long without actively suppressing it.” Usagi rubbed her nose in Luna’s fur. The Mau had been like a second mother to her and her presence was always comforting, finally she continued, “This is how I understand what Mother did to send us forward,” she began explaining, “She sent as much of our personalities, and what made us, well, _us_ forward. So we are basically who we were then, children of the Silver Millennium. I still have my family here, and they are my parents, but I am still Princess Serenity of the Silver Millennium at the same time.”

“Oh Pri-“

Usagi cut Luna off by pressing a slender finger to her mouth, “It’s Usagi right now,” she corrected her. “I’m not technically the princess in this form.”

Luna chuckled, and said, “Of course.” Then she looked up at Usagi, eyes twinkling, “Though considering how much you look like your past self, I think I know how to find the rest of the Senshi.”

“How?” Usagi asked, curious, “I’ve already sent them dreams the best I could tonight before I came outside, and I've been scanning the area for their aura's.” Usagi sat down on the porch steps and Luna crept out of her arms and sat next to the girl, joining her to look at the Moon. Both of them looked at the Moon sadly, the two of them probably the only beings that could see its true surface and the ruins emblazoned across its visage that night.

“That's very good, Usagi,” Luna finally said after a few moments of silence. “But if your mother did what I think she did, then they should all look the same and possibly have names that have to do with their abilities, or elements. You look exactly the same except for your hair color."

Usagi glanced at Luna sideways, “I already know who Endymion is,” she said with a small smile.

“Really?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t have any idea, not really,” Usagi sighed looking back at the Moon.

After that they sat in silence for a little while, thinking over how to go about finding the rest of the scouts, then Usagi suddenly had a thought.

“Do you know about Sailor V?” She asked Luna.

“Yes, why?” Luna asked curious as to what Usagi could be getting at.

“Well,” Usagi said, “She reminds me a lot of Venus, and she is called Sailor V. Her uniform looks kind of like a Senshi uniform, and she has a white cat the follows her around. And that white cat has a crescent Moon on its forehead. What are the chances that the white cat is Artemis?”

Luna’s eyes lit at the thought of seeing Artemis again, she would never admit it out loud, but she could not stand not being without him, Usagi smiled as she looked at the small cat next to her.

"I've also found Mercury," Usagi said when Luna had appeared to regain her senses, or returned from dream land as Usagi liked to call it. "Her aura basically hit me right in the face when she transferred into my class today. Though I'm the only one that could even tell she _had_ an aura, let alone read what it said."

"You have all your abilities then?" Luna asked, she knew that Lunarian Royal Line along with most of the court nobles and the Princesses of the other planets all had telepathic and telekinetic abilities to some degree, though the Lunar and Martian royal families traditionally had the strongest, and the last two generations of both lines had been extremely powerful. It was always debated who was more powerful in that respect, Moon or Mars but it was a friendly rivalry.

“Mhmm," Usagi muttered distractedly, _See?_ She said mentally making Luna jump. _It's easier when I'm transformed though, either as Serenity or Sailor Moon,_ Usagi continued, and then she added out loud, "That's for another day though," before yawning a little bit, "I've had a long day and I need my sleep. C'mon Luna, let's get some rest," she added, holding out her arms. Luna jumped into them and they headed inside.

Neither of them noticed the slight fluttering of the curtain from Usagi's parents' room where Ikuko had been watching through the window. Usagi might sleep soundly that night, but Ikuko would be up for many hours more, wondering just who or what her daughter was.


	4. Golden Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. It seemed very awkward at times and I just couldn't get it to work.
> 
> This is un-beta'd, I just went over it dozens of times myself to try and work things out.
> 
> Also headcannon because, really, we don't know how Mamoru FIRST transforms into Tuxedo Mask (Yes I'm using that instead of Kamen - I usually go for the Japanese names of the characters, but the Mask/Kamen argument is just silly).

Instead of just her alarm clock waking her up the next morning, the clock was also joined by Luna poking Usagi's cheek with her nose.

Usagi swatted the Mau away and sat up to turn off her alarm clock, "It would've been easier for you to just shake me awake y'know," Usagi mumbled as she stretched, still trying to wake up, they had stayed up longer than Usagi had intended, talking about Usagi’s life in the present and what happened to the Millennium and how Luna had gotten to Earth.

Luna made, for what passed on a cat's face, an annoyed expression, "I haven't been able to change since I woke up," She said irritably, but she also said it quietly. She knew Usagi's family did not know and kept her voice down in order to not call attention to herself.

"Really?" Usagi asked, voice muffled as she began to change out of her PJ's and into her school uniform.

"Yes," Luna said, "It would have made looking for you easier too," and with that Luna stretched, extending first her back legs than her front, looking very much like a normal cat for a moment - aside from the fact that she could talk that is. "They don't let cats in libraries to look though public records," She added off-handedly, and Usagi had the decency to blush.

"Sorry," Usagi said apologetically, "I didn't think about that. Any idea why you can't change?" she asked as she sat down to do her hair. It was even longer and more silver this morning and Usagi let out a muttered Lunarian curse under her breath, she might have to dye her hair blonde soon in order to keep people from noticing the change. Then an idea struck her and she smiled.

"Did you just swear?" Luna said, with a slight giggle, not able to bring it on herself to chastise the young woman.

Usagi’s smile dimmed slightly, "You would too if _your_ hair kept changing color," she said irritably as she stuck the right bun with the needed bobby pins.

At that Luna frowned and really looked at Usagi's hair, "It really _is_ changing isn't it?" The cat asked surprised, “It was bright blonde when I first started following you, there’s some silver in it now, right?”

Sighing, Usagi nodded her affirmative, "Ever since I remembered the past," She said as she finished with the other bun, "My hair keeps getting more and more silver as every day goes by."

Luna looked thoughtful at that statement and barely noticed as Usagi finished getting ready and grabbed her bag, "Are you coming?" Usagi asked, knocking Luna out of her thoughts.

"Yes," Luna said, and jumped onto the offered shoulder just as Ikuko yelled up from below.

"USAGI! You're going to be late!" With that, said girl was down the stairs and out the door, on her way to school with Luna on her shoulder.

* * *

 

A puzzled Ikuko was left standing in the kitchen after her whirlwind of a daughter ran though. "Do you think there's something going on with Usagi?" She asked Kenji who was sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hmm?" He said looking up from his paper, "No, I haven't noticed anything dear, why?" He asked, normally his wife did not sound so worried when it came to their children.

"She was outside in the backyard last night," Ikuko commented, "It was rather late too."

"Maybe she just couldn't sleep," Kenji said and went back to his paper.

“I somehow doubt it was that,” Ikuko said quietly, thinking back to the changes her daughter had gone through the night before. She had watched her daughter just… _change_ into someone or something else. The ethereal beauty that had stood in her backyard was more incredible than anything she had ever seen. It made certain things about her daughter stand out that Ikuko hadn’t really put together before. Like the hairstyle that Usagi had made her figure out when she was young, that she had kept, much to Ikuko’s surprise, right into her teenage years. And then was the tune that Usagi used to hum under her breath that Ikuko had never heard before. She had always assumed that Usagi had made it up, but now she was not so sure. Then there were the nightmares Usagi had had as a toddler that she did not remember having, screaming that people were going to die and sobbing.

Ikuko spent the rest of the day in a rather distracted manner that only Shingo noticed, but did not comment on.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Luna was talking in Usagi's ear as she made her way to school. "I think I know how we can get the other Senshi their pens," Luna was saying in Lunarian as Usagi turned a corner. Luna was still getting to grips with modern Japanese so she was more comfortable with Lunarian, but Usagi could tell she would be up to speed on Japanese soon enough. Usagi would swear the cat had more brains than she did.

"Good," Usagi replied in the same language, putting on more speed, "Mother gave me mine but I couldn't even begin to guess about the others."

"Queen Serenity gave you your broach?" Luna asked surprised, but she was not going to get her question answered, because as Usagi rounded the corner she ran straight into that boy again.

"Again, odango-atama?" He asked as they both dusted themselves off.

Usagi humph-ed, "It's Tsukino, Usagi," she said tartly, "If you're going to insult someone at least know their name."

He had the decency to blush, just a little, then gave a mocking bow, "Chiba, Mamoru," He supplied.

Usagi nodded, "Now that we've been introduced Chiba-san," she said politely, but with a distinct tone of annoyance, "I have to get to class. I believe you also have your own classes to get to as well," She added, since he was wearing a school uniform of his own. Usagi could feel Luna's claws digging lightly into her shoulder as the Mau tried not to say anything.

Mamoru caught sight of the cat on her shoulder and started, surprised. "I know that cat," he said almost to himself and Usagi's eyes narrowed. "Why do I seem to know you when we've never met before?"

Usagi met his gaze, and only with an act of pure will did she keep herself from blurting out everything to him. "Like I said yesterday, when you know who I was you will know."

"But why?" he almost begged and Usagi could see boy behind the man. The good person behind the mask of indifference and insults, "How do you know the name I hear in my dreams?"

Usagi stiffened as he said that, "Dreams?" She almost whispered. She was hit with the sudden realization that if she was sending her Senshi dreams with a fairly generic psychic broadcast then it was safe to assume that Chiba-san had picked up on them… unless there was something else. As he had recognized the name Endymion before she had started sending her Senshi dreams.

But once again, the question would go unanswered; the warning bell for Usagi's school rang. "Meet me at the Crown Princess arcade after school today, and we'll see about your dreams," she said and with that she turned and sprinted toward class.

* * *

 

Through her morning classes Usagi was even more distracted than normal. Chiba Momoru was a puzzle but she somehow _knew_ that he was her prince. He did not genuinely seem to be mean, but his attitude did need an adjustment in her opinion as he was very rude. Then again, she was different in some ways than how she had been. How can you not be? Granted the whole 'nature vs. nurture' argument gave her a headache, but she knew that she had some quirks that were different. For example she was much louder and a bit more impulsive, but then, that could have simply been the fact that she didn't have to act like a lady in front of a court of nobles anymore either.

Come lunch Usagi was thoroughly turned around, but had begun to formulate a plan for talking to Chiba. But first, lunch. So when it came time for them to eat, Usagi guided them all to a tree on the school grounds, near the outer wall, where they would be in the shade while they ate, but also Luna would be able to see Ami. It was Usagi’s plan that Luna see who she was before they did anything else. Plus it had the nice bonus of shade for them to sit under. It might not have been extremely hot weather, but it was more comfortable in the shade anyways.

Naru, Umino and Ami chatted amicably as Usagi watched Luna in the tree above them. _I saw the symbol of Mercury on her forehead_ , Usagi mentally told Luna. _Doesn_ _’t look much different does she?_

Luna shook her head and then jumped over the wall of the school, letting Usagi go back to her lunch, still trying to figure out how to tell Ami. Finally the other's noticed that Usagi was not really paying attention to the conversation.

Naru huffed in annoyance and waved her hand in front of Usagi's face. "Earth to Usagi-chan!" she called, making the blonde snap out of her trance.

Usagi smiled sheepishly, "Sorry guys, I've just been thinking about a lot of things."

"I hope it's your grades for once!" Naru commented.

Umino adjusted his glasses before saying, "Really, Usagi-san, you should study more." Ami giggled at his statement. She might have only known the blonde for a day and a half but she already knew of her reputation.

"Aww, Ami-chan, not you too!" Usagi whined slightly as she pouted and finished her lunch.

"It's not that bad Usagi-san," Ami said, "I'll help you if you want, I already know almost all of what they're teaching."

Usagi's face lit up at that. Naru and Umino seemed pleased at the prospect as well. "Really?" Usagi asked, "It's not that I can't do it, I just can't concentrate on it," She added helpfully.

Ami smiled, she was doing that more around Usagi than anyone else she had met before. "Really," Ami said, giving Usagi's hand a pat with her own. "We'll even start today if you want."

"I'll think about it," Usagi said with a smile of her own.

"Good!" Umino said.

"We'll get your grades up in no time!" Naru added helpfully.

Usagi giggled just as the bell rang and the four of them headed back to class.

* * *

 

The rest of the day went much more smoothly, Ami had given her a good idea for how to get her her transformation pen, though she did not realize it. Usagi planned to run it by Luna later and the two of them would come up with something.

After school, Naru and Umino headed home, Naru to help at her mother’s jewelry store and Umino to study, Ami headed to her prep school, and Usagi headed for the arcade. Luna was waiting as she left school and the Mau made herself comfortable on Usagi's shoulder as the girl walked.

The two discussed their plans for getting the other Senshi their Henshin Wands, and eventually came up with the idea to use the Sailor V game at the arcade (which was a modification of Usagi’s original idea), they just had to get them there first, but Luna would keep the pens with her until they were sure their idea would work. _Well, that_ _’ll be easy enough if I can befriend them,_ Usagi though as they kept walking

Finally Luna asked what she really wanted to know about who they were going to go see, "What are you going to tell him?" Luna asked, curious as to what Usagi planned to do.

"I honestly don't know. I'll see what he has to say first and then go from there I guess," Usagi said, and really, that was the best plan she had come up with, everything else she had thought of required him to have his past memories or to know there was something out there that needed to be stopped, etc.. Everything else she had come up was dependent on knowing something she did not know he knew, so she figured her first plan was the best.

"Now, before we get there, I want you to answer me about earlier," Luna said. Usagi stopped walking and glanced at the Mau on her shoulder before looking around her. Not noticing anyone, Usagi ducked into a small alley two buildings down from where she was and then leapt to the roof, holding tight to Luna.

Putting the Mau down, Usagi sat down on the edge of the roof, facing in-wards, which brought her eye level with the Mau since Luna was sitting on an air conditioning unit. "I meant exactly what I said. Mother gave me my broach."

Luna looked shocked, "Queen Serenity… but how?!" she asked.

Usagi smiled a bit sadly, "Mother's still up there," Usagi said pointing up, and even though the Moon was not visible, Luna got her message though. "But only in spirit," she added when she saw Luna's surprised and confused look. "Sealing the Dark Kingdom bound mother's spirit to the Crystal Tower," Usagi explained with a small shrug showing she did not know _how_ it had happened, just that it had. "She watched over the Earth and waited for us to be reborn and find each other again. She also uses what little power she has left to hide the ruins of our castle from eyes here on the Earth," Usagi sighed, "She had Pluto transport me there three nights ago when I dreamed of the fall of our Kingdom. Mother explained that I shouldn't have remembered now unless the Dark Kingdom somehow got out and was making trouble."

Luna was still in a bit of shock, "Sailor Pluto? … But knowledge of her is forbidden!" the feline said, feeling very confused and very much out of her element, which was not something she was terribly fond of.

Usagi smiled sadly again at that, "When I was young as Princess Serenity, I would explore the palace, poking my nose into all sorts of places it probably didn't belong. Almost like a cat," She added with a small smile. "One day I came across this door, and mother found me there, but I'd already opened it. She let me go through and meet Sailor Pluto. At first I didn't know what to make of her, but she didn't get mad at me, and I would visit her every once in a while, and talk to her. She's very lonely."

Luna looked thoughtful, "Your mother warned me away from her door when I wandered that deeply into the palace once. She made me promise to never look for that door again, and to never speak of it, but I couldn't stop thinking about that door. I never disobeyed her orders but I often wondered what the Guardian of Time was like."

"She really is nice," Usagi said, thinking of the person that was her sole remaining blood relative from the Silver Millennium, "Once you get past the ‘I'm a solitary guardian and thus have to be alone’ face she puts on, that is. But she's just like the other two, refusing to let anyone help."

"You really do remember everything don't you?" Luna asked, she kept finding things that she did not remember clearly, only to have Usagi remind her as they talked.

"Yes, Luna, I do," Usagi replied, then she sighed, "Really, I just want to be normal, but hey, I'm a reborn Princess of a Moon Kingdom that's a hundred thousand years gone," Usagi gave another small laugh. "I know I'll find everyone eventually though! So c'mon Luna, let's go talk to my prince." Luna jumped back onto Usagi's shoulder and the two of them leapt from the building to land back in the alley.

* * *

 

Within two minutes Usagi was waltzing through the sliding glass doors to the arcade, Luna having decided to stay outside and act the friendly stray for the time being.

"Hi Motoki!" Usagi greeted cheerfully before turning to the man at the counter, "Chiba-san," She said civilly with a nod.

Mamoru returned her nod and sipped at his coffee. Motoki handed Usagi her usual milkshake without being asked, earning a small 'thanks' from the blonde before Mamoru gestured to one of the booths. Usagi nodded her head and followed him. They each took a seat opposite the other and sat sipping their drinks for a few minutes in a fairly amicable silence.

Usagi watched as Mamoru opened his mouth a few times, only to stop himself, unsure how to start the rather awkward conversation they were bound to have. Finally Mamoru managed to ask, "How do you know that name?" Almost as if he was afraid to say it out loud, almost as if, he said it, he would wake up and someone having the answer to his questions would turn out to be a dream.

Usagi looked down at her drink and bit her lip, "It is a name from my past," She finally said quietly.

There was a look of honest surprise on his face. "Your past?" he asked, almost as if he hadn't heard her.

"Yes," Usagi said, and finally looked up at him, "But what I want to know is how you know it." Usagi stirred her milkshake with her straw, a nervous motion, "You mentioned dreams. What do you dream about?" she asked after a moment of silence.

Mamoru thought for a minute before deciding that, for some reason that was completely unfathomable at the time, he could trust the young woman across from him. "I dream of a white palace," he finally said, "And of pastel gardens and holding a girl in my arms watching the Earth rise." Here he laughed quietly a little, "I guess that's the logic of dreams, watching the Earth rise, I'd have to be on the Moon to do that." Mamoru sobered a little at the serious look on Usagi's face. "That's not all I dream though," he continued, "I dream of another palace, this one of gray stone. Of the vibrant colors of _its_ gardens. There are always four men with me when I dream of the gray palace. Men I know I know, but don’t actually remember." Mamoru sighed, and laced his fingers together under his chin, looking out the window. "There are bad versions of the dream too, where everything is dark, and I'm fighting something I can't win against, but I fight anyways, to protect the girl from the White Palace." He sighed again and his eyes unfocused as he looked out the window. It was easy to see he was remembering the dream.

"What are you wearing," Usagi asked quietly, "In your dream?"

Mamoru was surprised by her question, and paused a moment to regard the young woman sitting across from him. She sat now, gazing out the window, one hand on her glass, the other using the straw to stir absentmindedly. The late afternoon sun was shining through the window, landing on both of them, and only now, did he notice the silver tint of the girls hair, barely noticeable within the blonde. Her blue eyes were unfocused as she looked out the window, a somewhat sad expression on her face.

Usagi waited as he looked at her. She had a feel for what was running through his mind. His aura kept changing, giving her a window to his thoughts, though it was only a partial picture. He was at first distrustful of her, then curious, and he was hiding just how much his dreams disturbed and scared him due to not understanding their meaning.

Finally, Usagi got the answer to her question. "I'm always wearing a variation of the same thing. Black armor with a silver design on it, a sword strapped to my waist and sometimes a cloak attached to the armor. Sometimes I'm in a fancier version, usually when I dream about the White Palace. And I’m wearing a simpler version when I dream of the Gray Palace."

Listening to him talk Usagi knew that he was close to awakening. How the power of Earth would manifest within him, she did not know, but she knew that it would, and it would soon. She had used her questions about his dreams to access just how much he knew or remembered or supposed.

"What I want to know," Mamoru said, getting her attention again, "Is how you know. You seemed to know that I was going to say this before I said it. I want to know how _you_ know." He peered at her closely before saying, "You know, and you're not telling me. I lost all my memory when I was almost eight and I've been having this dream ever since," Mamoru said. "Please tell me what you know," He said, almost begging, again giving Usagi a glimpse at the good man he could become.

Suddenly a piece of memory hit Usagi, of giving a boy a rose in the hospital when her little brother Shingo was born, with a flash of insight to compliment that flash of memory, Usagi realized that that boy was the young man now sitting across from her. She also realized that he _had not_ been picking up on the dreams she had been sending her Senshi, especially if he had been having them for as long as he said he had. It was probably his initial amnesia at a young age that triggered his dreams, not her psychic dream sending, which made her feel relieved, she was glad she was not the cause of his distress.

"I gave you a rose when you were in the hospital," Usagi said and she could hear Mamoru's gasp as he remembered as well.

"How do you know it was me?" He asked, a bit shaken by the revelation.

Usagi smiled a little sadly and met his gaze, "You have the same eyes, kind eyes."

Mamoru had the decency to blush slightly at her comment. Usagi looked around the arcade, seeming to notice the other people there for the first time. Pulling her wallet out of her school bag, she placed the cost of the milkshake on the table for Motoki to collect. "Let's take this talk elsewhere," Usagi said, as she rose from her seat. "I have a feeling we won't want company. How does the park sound?"

Mamoru nodded and stood, placing his own money on the table before the two of them headed for the door. "Bye you two!" They heard Motoki say. They waved as they walked out the door and Motoki smiled to himself and went back to his other customers.

 _Luna_ , Usagi called silently, and continued when she felt the cats mental nod, _Follow us to the park will you?_

 _Everything okay?_ Luna asked in return, and Usagi could feel her worry.

 _Everything's fine,_ Usagi said, _We just needed a more private place to talk._

Usagi felt Luna's mental nod again and focused her gaze on the sidewalk in front of her, the mental exchange having only taken a couple of seconds.

The two of them walked in silence for the few minutes it took them to reach the park. Silently they agreed to find an out of the way bench. They ended up on one in a slightly wooded area with a fountain nearby, the barely there sound of the water creating soothing noise in the background.

Usagi sat on the bench, back strait, hands folded in her lap. "The name Endymion," She began without preamble not dancing around the topic anymore, "Goes back farther than the Greeks." Mamoru stated at her, mouth hanging open slightly. "In fact," she continued, "It goes back over a hundred thousand years, to a time when the Earth had a single kingdom and the Moon had her own as well."

"Wait," Mamoru said, interrupting her, which Usagi had completely expected, "You're saying there used to be life on the _Moon?_ " He asked, completely shocked.

Usagi nodded, "Here, take my hand," she said, holding one out for him. Mamoru looked at her unsure, but then took the hand. "Now, look at the Moon, what do you see that wasn't there before?" The sun was starting to go down and the waning Moon was clearly visible in the sky.

She felt Mamoru jump as he realized he was seeing constructions on the Moon's surface, things that had clearly been made by a civilization. "Wha….?" He began to ask, only to trail off when she let go of his hand the Moon faded back to what it had looked like before.

"You just saw the ruins of the Moon palace," Usagi said. "The White Palace of your dream. The center of life and culture during the Silver Millennium."

Mamoru still looked shocked. "There was life on the Moon?" He just couldn't seem to get over that fact. Usagi nodded silently and stared up at the Moon with a sad expression on her face. "How do you know this?" he finally asked. It was, on one level, the question that Usagi had been dreading.

She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before answering his question, "We were both there when the Silver Millennium ended. Its Fall caused human life on Earth to start again, to revert to its most basic way of life and to develop again into the world we see today."

"We were there?" Mamoru asked. "How, I mean, I'm eighteen, you can't be more than sixteen, how could we have been somewhere a hundred thousand years ago?"

Usagi looked down and noticed that the power of the Earth had gathered around them, taking a moment to think she then answered his question but not the way he wanted, "Look  down and sense the power of the Earth beneath you. With your psychometry you should be able to sense it, see it, feel it. The Earth will return to you what’s yours.”

"How do you know?" He asked, he'd never told anyone of his ability to read the energy of the Earth around him.

Usagi smiled, this time with less sadness, "You're the healer, and you're the peacemaker. You're the protector, the life bringer, you hold within you a massive potential for good, you're the Earths gold to the Moons silver,” she said cryptically.

Mamoru looked shocked at her words, said with such conviction; they seemed to ripple within him like stones falling into a pond, sending a shiver through his very soul as something in him reacted to her words. Slowly he shifted so that he had one knee on the ground, placing his palm on the grass he let his eyes slide shut.

The power of the Earth shot through him, making his form jerk slightly as Usagi watched, the Earth, apparently, had decided to give her a hand. She smiled a little, grateful that she would not have to be the one to show him, grateful that the Earth herself was giving him back his memory. She was not sure she could have done it without crying. She knew that she would have to give her Senshi back their memories herself. There was no way she could transport them to each planet individually which meant she would have to do it herself, and she knew that it would be difficult all around when that happened.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a wave of gold energy that erupted from under Mamoru's feet and spread so quick that Usagi barely had time to take a sudden breath before it washed passed her, making the trees and bushes around their hidden spot rustle in the sudden breeze.

The sound of flapping fabric made Usagi look back at Mamoru. He was still kneeling where he had been, but his clothing had completely changed. He was now wearing a tuxedo, complete with top hat, cape and gloves, a cane on the ground at his side. There was even a simple white mask over his eyes, though you could still see his eyes through it.

"Tuxedo Mask," Usagi breathed, the name coming to her as she read the energy around him.

Mamoru opened his eyes and noticed the change, "How... what…" he began sputtering before his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed. The only thing that saved his head from a bump with the ground was Usagi's reflexes.

It only took a minute or two for him to wake back up though. Usagi knew from experience that one was liable to faint after receiving the memories of a past life, after all, she herself had done something similar only a few days previous. Slowly Mamoru's eye's fluttered open. He was stilled dressed in the tuxedo and accessories. His gaze fell on Usagi, leaning over him, a concerned look on her face. He frowned for a moment before sitting up.

"Serenity?" he finally asked, not sure if he could really believe that the girl before him was the one in his dreams, and his beloved from the memories of the life he'd just received.

Usagi could not hold herself back anymore and burst into tears before hugging him suddenly. Mamoru slowly wrapped his arms around the sobbing girl leaning on his chest. "I thought you'd never remember after the way you acted," she sobbed into his shirt. Having her memories as Serenity was a huge burden on her and since the first day when she knew that her prince was alive and well it was stressful to not have him by her side. Everything was happening so fast in her mind, but what else could happen? She could not continue life as she had been before remembering, she could only move forward. And move forward she was determined to do.

"Shh, it's okay," Mamoru said, "I remember now." And he really did. His communication with the Earth had shown him his past life, and all the memories had come flooding back at once, he was surprised by everything, but it all made everything make sense. His power, his dreams, just, everything, his whole life had seemed to click into place as soon as he had remembered his previous life. He had always had an inkling that there was something different about him and indeed he now knew that there was.

Slowly Usagi stopped crying and finally shifted position so that she was leaning against his side and looking up at the Moon. After a few minutes Mamoru asked the question that Usagi knew would be coming, "Why did you remember?"

Usagi sniffed, "Remember the fight with Metallia?" she asked. Mamoru winced and nodded, and Usagi continued softly, "Once we had both died Mother tried to seal Metallia away, she believed she was successful. Once she had sealed her she sent all of us, you, me, my Senshi, your Shittenou, all of us forward to a time and place where we could all live together," Usagi sighed, "If everything had gone as planned, I would have remembered when I turned eighteen and we would have found each other again. But…. Things didn't go as planned, Metallia was somehow revived and is back to trying to take over the Earth and cover it in darkness."

"Sere," Mamoru said softly, making Usagi smile in spite of herself at the nickname, "I know your Senshi haven't awoken but where are my Shitennou?"

Mamoru frowned when Usagi cringed, and he had to strain to hear her quiet answer, "Mettalia and Beryl have them."

After swearing under his breath for a full minute, Mamoru finally said, "And you don't have the crystal do you? That was another dream I had you know. A girl with long hair shrouded in mist saying over and over 'Find the Ginzuisho'. It was starting to drive me crazy."

Usagi returned her gaze to the Moon, "No, I don't have it. Mother hid it away so that Metallia couldn’t get it and she can't tell me. The only hint she gave me was that it follows my heart. Whatever _that_ means."

* * *

 

Before the two of could continue their conversation further, Luna jumped in front of them, "Hurry!" she cried without preamble. "Ami's in trouble, other side of the park!" And with that took off in the direction of Usagi's friend.

Both of them jumped to their feet in response. Usagi grabbed her broach and shouted, " _Moon Power, Make up!_ " and transformed in a blinding flash of light leaving Mamoru blinking the spots from his eyes. He cleared them only to realize that Usagi, now Sailor Moon was already tearing after the cat and cursed yet again before grabbing his cane and running to catch up.

The three of them skidded around a corner in the path and to a sudden stop. Jaedite was there; both Sailor Moon and the newly born Tuxedo Mask recognized him. He had Ami in his grip, the symbol for Mercury blazing on her forehead, almost in defiance of him trying to kill her.

"Jaedite!" Sailor Moon called, gaining the dark Shittenou's attention, "Put her down _now_ ," she continued, voice fairly dripping venom. She might have known, intellectually, that he did not want to kill Mars, but he had, and she was pissed, and until he was a good guy she felt she was free to be mad at him.

"Oh?" said Jaedite, holding Ami up in the air, "What will you do about it if don't?"

To everyone's surprise, it was Luna that answered him, "This," the Mau simply said, before doing a back-flip and making a blue pen appear, then before anyone could really process what she had just done, she hurled it at Ami, using the momentum of her flip to fling the blue pen. The girl reflexively caught the item coming at her and there was an explosion of fog and making Jaedite drop his grip on the blue haired girl.

"Ami-chan!" Usagi called, trying to find her friend. She could feel Mamoru's hand in hers as he didn't want to lose her in the fog.

"I'm over here," Ami's voice said, sounding slightly strained, and rather quiet.

Usagi reached out a hand and to her surprise found her own white gloved hand gripping another white gloved hand. With the fog clearing slightly Usagi smiled when she realized what she was seeing.

Mercury had awoken.


	5. Freezing Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this is un-beta'd. Just myself going over it again and again.
> 
> I know that things are working out differently than in the anime or the manga, but the sequence of events is going to stay relatively the same.
> 
> Things seem to be happening quickly, but things should slow down a little bit in later chapters.
> 
> And yes, in the last chapter I used some stuff from the R movie. I know, I know, but it's an adorable scene and I wanted to use it so I did.

Jadeite was furious. He had been foiled from draining that girl of her wonderful energy by the explosion of fog, though something was bothering him about the symbol on the girls forehead. Something important, it was like it was on the tip of his tongue but he just could not _remember_.  Letting out a yell, followed by a burst of energy Jadeite cleared away the remaining fog, only to reveal one of the things he least wanted to see; a second Sailor Senshi. This time, one he recognized.

While Jadeite seethed, Sailor Moon was smiling broadly and Tuxedo Mask was smiling as well.

"Welcome back, Sailor Mercury," Luna said, making Ami stare at her.

"What do you mean?" She asked before trying to stand. It was then that she seemed to notice that her clothing had changed. "Where… what… how did…," The girl genius sputtered, unable to get a clear sentence out.

Sailor Moon hauled Mercury to her feet, "We'll talk once we take care of Jadeite," She said and turned to face the man. "You just tried to kill another member of the Royal Court. For the murder of the Princess of Mars and the attempted murder of Sailor Mercury, you will pay," and with that Sailor Moon threw a ball of energy and the currently evil Shittenou and ducked, dragging Ami out of the way.

Jadeite replied with his own blast, but Sailor Moon did not stop moving long enough for it to hit. Suddenly Jadeite whirled, sensing something behind him, only to be met by a cane cracking down onto his shoulder, causing him to stagger with the impact.

Not letting Jadeite recover, Tuxedo Mask brought his hands together and sent his own energy blast at the man. A cry of "Moon Tiara Action!" Made him glance over to the side, only to see a glowing disc impact Jadeite's side, it did not kill the man, that was not the point of it, they wanted him to leave. Sailor Moon was conflicted knowing that deep down he really was a good guy that just got taken in by the wrong people. She hated having to fight him. She also knew that if the other generals ever came and joined the fight then she would be in a lot of trouble.

Mamoru’s mind was working in overdrive while he tried to keep Jadeite occupied. The part of his mind that was Endymion was trying to keep him from killing one of his friends because he knew that he was not really evil and all that; but right now he had to stay analytical and fighting so that he did not get himself or Serenity or Sailor Mercury killed.

They watched as Jadeite stumbled back from their combine attacks. He had a large gash in his side form Sailor Moons tiara and he looked slightly singed from both her and Tuxedo Masks blasts as well. They watched as he clutched his left side in pain as he growled at them.

“You cannot beat us,” Sailor Moon said bravely, standing with Sailor Mercury behind her looking quite lost and confused.

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Jadeite said and began gathering a much larger energy blast, this one looked to be the biggest yet. It was the size of a basketball and still growing.

“Mercury!” Sailor Moon said, getting Ami’s attention, “I need you to blanket the area in fog again, can you do that?”

“I think so,” Mercury said nervously.

Moon smiled at the blue clad Senshi, “Don’t worry, I know you can, just let the attack come to you, don’t fight it.”

Mercury nodded and they both stepped away from the other. Tuxedo Mask was trying to circle around behind Jadeite to catch him by surprise again, but Jadeite was moving as he gathered his energy. They could see that he was tired, which was a good thing for them, this mean that they had more time to attack because it would take him longer to build his own.

Suddenly a cry of “Mercury Fog Enshroud!” came from the direction of Sailor Mercury and the area was once again blanketed in fog, making it impossible for them to see beyond a foot or two in front of their faces.

Tuxedo Mask took advantage of Jadeites momentary confusion and moved in again with his cane, wielding it like one would a sword. He swore under his breath as Jadeite ducked out of the way. Tuxedo Mask came to the decision that he really needed to train some, he was way too out of shape from what he remembered from before. Most of what he remembered from being Endymion was quick, lightning strikes, and he just was not currently in enough shape to perform those. Tux could not also help but wonder why in the blue blazes did he have a cane, he would have preferred a sword in his hand any day.

Jadeite finally finished gathering his energy and shot a huge blast toward Sailor Moon who barely managed to duck out of the way in time. It impacted behind her, clearing the fog and creating a fairly large explosion that Sailor Moon knew would bring the authorities. Jadeite was the worse for wear from his attack.

“I’ll take care of you soon,” He spat at them and disappeared into a portal.

* * *

 

“We better clear out,” Sailor Moon said and the other two knew she was right, they could hear sirens coming in the distance. The three of them bolted for the exit to the park and down a side road before both Moon and Tux took one of Mercury’s arms and jumped, landing on the top of a nearby building. Luna showed up a few moments later, not being able to move as fast as the Senshi, but she made herself scarce knowing that a talking cat might disturb the newly awakened scout, she stayed nearby though, knowing that she would most likely be needed eventually.

Mercury looked around in surprise at their sudden relocation to a roof top and as soon as Moon and Tux let of her arms she sat down hard on the edge of the roof looking a tad dazed.

“Just concentrate on your civilian form and you’ll change back to normal,” Moon said.

Mercury just looked at her confused, “Who are you? Whats going on? Why did my clothes change? Who’s he? How d’you know my name?” She asked in a rush, the words blurring together she was saying them so fast.

Sailor Moon smiled at her, “Slow down! Take a deep breath,” Mercury obeyed, “Good,” She continued, “I don’t want you passing out from lack of oxygen. Now ask to your questions, I’ll gladly answer them, but I think we all might feel more comfortable in our civilian forms. Unless you _like_ sitting up here in a miniskirt and knee high boots,” Sailor Moon said with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

Mercury looked down at herself, really understanding her change in costume for the first time, then she sighed and closed her eyes and concentrated on what she had been wearing. Her fuku shimmered and melted back into her normal clothing, tiara and various extra accessories disappearing, leaving Ami sitting on the rooftop in her school uniform.

“Who ar-” She began asking but was cut off when both Moon and Tux went through the same de-transformation as her and standing there was one Tsukino, Usagi and a man she didn’t recognize.

“Mizuno, Ami,” Usagi said, being formal, “May I introduce you to Chiba, Mamoru?”

Mamoru stuck out his hand and Ami shook it shyly with a small bow, “Hello,” She said and let go of Mamoru’s hand, then seemed to come to her senses, “Usagi-san!” She cried, “What is going on?”

“That,” Usagi said, “Is a very long story but for you to truly understand you need to regain your memories.”

“Memories?” Ami asked, “What do you mean, memories? I remember my whole life.”

“You remember _this_ life,” Mamoru said, “You need to understand your previous life in order to understand the events of today and the past few days around the city.” Granted Mamoru had only remembered a very short while ago but everything made so much _sense_ now. His psychometric abilities, his strange dreams, just everything fell into place and he new Ami would understand soon enough, it would also make the following conversations a lot easier on them all if there wasn’t constant explanations about everything.

“Past life?” Ami whispered. “Do you mean those dreams I’ve had with someone calling me Mercury?”

“Exactly, and I’ve been the one sending you those dreams, it was easier once I knew exactly who you were too,” Usagi said, and took a seat next to Ami, holding her hand out in front of the girl. “If you take my hand I can show you.”

“You didn’t do that with me,” Mamoru said, looking a little hurt, but you could see the teasing in his eyes, and Usagi found herself thinking that regaining his memories was good for his personality. He seemed like a much better person than he had earlier that day.

“I didn’t need to,” Usagi replied in a light tone, “The Earth did it for me, however we don’t have a way of transporting Ami here to Mercury to let her planet to do it so I’m going to unlock her memory.”

“You can’t teleport her there?” Mamoru asked, surprised, “I heard on the news that you could teleport.”

“That only works on myself I'm afraid, I can’t take anyone with me, but I can take objects. We would need Sailor Teleport to get to Mercury and we don’t have all the Senshi needed for that.”

“What are you talking about?” Ami asked, not liking the feeling of being confused or out of the loop. Her mind thrived on knowledge and right now she did not have what she needed to understand what was going on.

“You’ll know soon enough, Ami-chan, please, take my hand,” Usagi said kindly, holding out her hand again.

Ami looked between Usagi’s blue eyes and her hand. She could see in the expression on Usagi’s face and she knew that her friend was being open and honest with her. She took Usagi’s hand.

Mamoru watched as Ami gently placed her hand in Usagi’s and then as Usagi covered Ami’s hand with her other one and closed her eyes. For a moment he thought Usagi was not doing anything, but then Ami’s eyes went wide and her gaze lost focus. She even twitched a few times as her memories hit her. Usagi however was grimacing as she brought all of Ami’s past memories to the surface; it was harder work than she expected it to be,. It was like removing digging through layers of fog, and though she did not see her friends memories directly she could feel some of the emotional turmoil associated with the stronger ones.

After what seemed like forever, but was really only a few minutes, Usagi sighed and opened her eyes, letting go of Ami’s hand. Ami seemed to blink once they lost contact, almost as if she no longer remembered where she was but she soon seemed to focus on her surroundings, her quick mind realizing what had happened to her.

“How do you feel?” Usagi asked her after a moment.

Ami turned to the girl next to her, as if seeing her for the first time. Memories from two lives overlapped, and she could see a silver haired girl in a white dress overlay the blonde school girl she was sitting next to, it took her breath away when she came to the realization, “Serenity?” She asked in confusion after a moment, not sure she wanted to believe her eyes.

Usagi smiled and nodded. She had decided that she would not hide from the scouts. She needed her friends with her. She would never forget her friends from Earth, but the scouts were her first friends. They were also her court and she needed their support, she needed them around her. Usagi, however, was not prepared when Ami launched herself at her princess and gave her a huge hug, almost knocking her off her seat.

“I can’t believe it’s you!” She cried as cried into her shoulder. “I thought you were lost forever when you died.”

Usagi hugged the ice scout back warmly, “I’m sorry, my friend,” she said. “I should have thought about it before doing what I did. But Endymion was dead and our kingdom was falling, I basically went mad when Endymion died, I’m sorry,” Usagi quietly said.

Ami sniffled into her friends shoulder, still coming to terms with what she now remembered having happened in the past. “Why though?” She asked, still not truly understanding, “Why did you have to kill yourself?!” she sobbed into her princess shoulder, clearly upset by the events of that day long past.

Mamoru’s eyes went wide and he sucked in a sharp breath when Ami said that. _Serenity had killed herself?_ He thought in shock. He knew that he was still protecting her when he was killed. She must have been insane  to even consider such an insane course of action.

“Look at me,” Usagi commanded. She did not ask, she commanded. Years of obeying that tone of voice during the Silver Millennium showed themselves as memories overlapped and Ami looked up at her princess. “I make no excuses for what I did. I know, now, what it did to all of you. I was not thinking at the time. My love was dead, our bond severed, your fiance was trying to kill you, our kingdom had fallen, the Earth was lost to the darkness, can you see how hopeless the situation looked to me?” Ami nodded eyes still full of tears. Usagi wrapped her friend in a quick hug, “I’m sorry what happened happened, but we can’t change the past. We only have today and the future to work with. We are here now, we are both alive now and I will not follow that course of action again understood?” She asked and Ami nodded again. “Good, Mother gave us all a new chance at life and at happiness, at the cost of her own life. I would not be calling on you now if Mettalia had not escaped her bonds, you would have been able to find your love and live a happy life,” Usagi took a breath, she was not used to long speeches, “Unfortunately,” She continued, “That is not the case and Mettalia is once again threatening life. Will you stand by me, Sailor Mercury, Princess Hermione of Mercury, scout of knowledge guarded by the Ice Planet?”

Ami looked up at her princess and really looked at her. She seemed different now, and not just because she had blond hair now instead of silver, but there was an apparent maturity that she had somehow gained, from bumbling princess to clutzy school girl to the mature young woman sitting before her. Though it was still possible to see those other things in the young woman before her, there now seemed to be a smaller part of the whole and not the defining characteristics.

Shifting her position Ami went down on one knee before her friend, “You have my allegiance, your majesty,” she said formally, using a phrase similar to when she had first sworn allegiance to her princess all those thousands of years ago.

Usagi smiled and stood, pulling her friend with her, “Good,” She said, and then added, “I’m still your friend Ami-chan, we both just now have more responsibilities than before.”

“If you are finished with the formalities,” Luna said, getting their attention, “I believe it is time Mercury got her computer back.”

“Luna!” Ami cried and scooped the cat up before she could protest, “It’s so good to see you!”

Luna laughed, then said “I know, I know, but if you don’t put me down I can’t get your computer out of my subspace pocket and we all know how much you love that computer of yours!”

Ami laughed as well and let the cat jump out of her arms after Ami gave her one last squeeze. Luna then jumped into the air and did a flip causing a tiny blue computer with the symbol of Mercury on the cover to appear. Ami grabbed it before it could hit the ground and immediately flipped it open, "Wish I had a hand to do that with," Luna muttered as Ami fiddled with the computer, immediately running scans on all of them.

Mamoru wrapped an arm around Usagi’s shoulder, like a friend, as they watched Ami very quickly become engrossed in the little screen. Usagi looked up at him, she only came up to his shoulder after all, even with her hair, “We should go do something fun,” she said quietly. “Even though we are who we were, we don’t know each other too well in this life.”

“You have a point,” Mamoru acquiesced. “It does feel good to have my memory back though, I even remember the time before I was in that accident with my parents.” Usagi smiled at him when he said that and Mamoru felt that he like he was already in love with the girl next to him. She had such a loving personality from what he had seen that day, after he had stopped insulting her or demanding explanations.

Suddenly Ami gasped, “Usagi-san! You need to see this! You too Chiba-san!”

Usagi frowned, “What is it Ami-chan?” she asked as both she and Mamoru leaned over Ami’s shoulders to see the screen of her tiny computer. What looked like two different genetic codes scrolling side by side by side on the little screen, though Mamoru had a better idea what all the code meant than Usagi.

“Is that a comparison between Lunarian and Human DNA?” Mamoru asked, sounding surprised.

“How do you…?” Ami trailed off.

“Planning to study to become a doctor,” Mamoru said simply as he began reading the screen. After a moment his eyes went wide, “Is that right?” He asked Ami looking serious.

“What are you two talking about?” Usagi asked a little impatiently. Its not like she was dumb or anything but she did not understand all the code on the screen and they were talking without saying what they really meant.

“Our bodies are changing,” Ami said without preamble. “Yours the most,” She added to Usagi. “Our powers which are powered by our souls and linked to our memories are apparently slowly overriding our Human DNA with the same code as our Lunarian lives.”

“How does this affect Mamoru-san though?” Usagi asked, “And I kinda knew that already, my hairs been turning silver for days now.” Ami looked closely at her friends hair for a moment and could see what she meant. It was more silver than it had been when Ami had met Usagi, it was still only noticeable if you really knew what to look for though.

“Human DNA has changed since the Millennium,” Ami said slowly, “Lunarian and Human are very similar,” She continued, “Without knowing that there was a difference you’d never spot it, the main differences are the longevity of the genome and various minor things like the genes that govern telepathic and telekinetic powers, which current scientists haven’t identified yet, but are still there.” Ami frowned as the readings kept changing, “Your changes are accelerated compared to Chiba-san and I, ours are very minute. Hmm, I’m not quite sure what to say to that, it might simply be that you’ve been awake longer than us, both of us getting our memories back only today, or it could simply be because you're the princess. I don't know yet.”

"You're a princess too," Usagi whined slightly. And it was true. All of the Sailor Senshi were the princesses of their own planets. As Serenity, Usagi had never liked her friends degrading their own status for her own. Yes they had sworn to protect her but they had their own planets as well and she always felt bad that they put her safety over their own. Usagi had to keep herself from shaking her head to clear it, the political structure of the Silver Millennium had nothing to do with her current situations anyways.

"Yes but you're _the_ princess," Ami said with a smile. "And we all swore to protect you and protect you we will."

“So what does this mean for me?” Mamoru asked, trying to be polite without really interrupting the two girls next to him.

“I’m still not sure,” Ami said, mind back on the problem before her, “You might change the least out of all of us since you were always Terran human to begin with, however, contact with the power of the Ginzuishou when Her Majesty sent us all forward might have changed that, I’ll have to look into it as the changes progress. Though I have to admit, right now it looks like were going to end up a combination of our modern selves and our past selves blended together to create a single whole, but with significant overtones of our past selves,” Ami looked at the two people with her on the roof top, "Since we already look a lot like our past selves I believe it's safe to say that our souls are more powerful than the average human for the past to override the genetics of the present to the extent that it has."

“I wish I knew exactly what Her Majesty did to send us forward, it would help figure this out,” Mamoru commented, his mind going into overdrive with all that Ami had said.

“I talked to her about it and she just kinda willed it to happen, she didn’t think about the scientific stuff, she just did it. But she did say that we would become who we were, children of the Millennium,” Usagi said, putting her two cents in.

“Wait you talked to the Queen?!” Ami exclaimed in shock.

“Hows that possible?” Mamoru asked at the same time.

Luna just shook her head as the two pounced on Usagi for that. She had already gotten over her shock of knowing that the Queens spirit was still around and it was now humorous to watch the others reactions, though, she had to admit, she swore Usagi was doing it on purpose just to mess with her old friend and love, and if the Lunar Cat had been able to read Usagi’s mind at the moment she would have found that her assumptions were right on the mark.

Usagi sighed, she had the feeling she would be repeating this for every member of her court except for Pluto, maybe she could get the others to explain it next time, still, it was fun to see their reactions! “When Mother used the Ginzuisho to seal Mettalia away she also used it to take our bodies, our souls and our memories and send us to the future, to give us all a chance at the happiness that could not be at the time. Doing so took all of her energy and she died that day, however her spirit was bound to the Crystal Tower in the Palace because she had to use its power, the power of the Moon itself, along with the Ginzuisho in order to seal Mettalia away,” Usagi paused and took a couple of breaths and then continued with a sigh, “We weren’t supposed to remember now, we were all supposed to remember when we turned eighteen and then fine our partners. Zoicite was sent forward as well,” and she wrapped an arm around Ami knowing that what she said next would be difficult for the scout, “Mettalia has them all again though, as you can probably tell from Jadeite earlier this afternoon.”

Ami nodded numbly. Now that she had her memories from the Millennium she remembered all the quiet evenings with Zoicite while Endymion was visiting the Moon. Her eyes began to tear but she fought the urge to cry again. She felt she had done enough of that today as it was.

"Is there any way for us to see her?" Ami asked quietly.

Usagi shook her head sadly, "I could teleport myself there, but for you two to come along we would need Sailor Teleport, or Pluto to take us. I'm sorry." Usagi didn’t know what her mother had planned for later that night.

"Pluto?" Ami asked, and Mamoru gave Usagi a questioning look.

"Ugh, she's going to kill me," Usagi groaned, "Not that it matters now anyways, all the rules have changed."

"Who are you talking about?" Mamoru asked.

Usagi smiled secretively, "You only knew my four Guardian Senshi," She said to Mamoru, then directed the rest at the two people in front of her. "What you don't know is that there are four other Sailor Senshi of the Solar System. Two guard it from afar and are never seen. One must never be summoned for she causes destruction in her wake and then Sailor Pluto, cousin by blood to the Royal Lunarian line and the Guardian of Time and Space. She guards the door to Time, hidden deep within the Palace of the Moon in the past."

Ami and Mamoru looked shocked at what Usagi had just said. Ami was the first of the two to find her voice though, "She's still around?" she asked in a slightly strangled voice. She knew only of the Senshi of Time's existence, not her planet or of her blood connection to the Lunarian Monarchy.

Usagi smiled sadly, "The Door of Time protects her from anything that happens here, she is not affected by anything when on the other side of the door, and she is one of three living beings left from that time," Ami looked shocked again. To be alone for that long… her mind was boggled by the circumstances. "We can talk about this another day though," Usagi finally said quietly. "We all have a lot to deal with right now and we can talk political structure and system guardianship later okay?" She asked with a bit more of her usual attitude.

"I just wish we could contact Her Majesty," Ami said wistfully. All the scouts had blatantly hero worshiped their Queen and Princess in the Millennium and she longed to see the Queen again now that she knew she was still around, even if only a form of Spirit.

"I wish you could too, it is nice to have guidance and someone that understands," Usagi said.

"It's okay," Mamoru said understanding her predicament. "It would probably be good for us to do as much on our own as we can. From what you said she can't come here herself and we are the ones that have to handle the situation anyways."

Ami nodded her agreement with Mamoru’s statement. As much as she would have liked to see the queen it made sense to stay on Earth. It was their home now. They were all human, or some weird combination of Lunarian and Human that Ami had not figured out yet. She would though, and nothing stood between a Mercurian and the answer to their question. But she understood why they had to stay on Earth. They had to protect the people where they were. They may have lost the rest of the Solar System a hundred thousand years ago but they still had the Earth, where they all originated from in the beginning and by golly they were going to protect it with everything they had.

Usagi smiled at the two people her. She wiped a small tear from her eye. "Thank you guys," She said quietly. "I'm glad to have you both with me. We have a long road ahead of us."

"That we do," Mamoru agreed and Ami hugged Usagi about the shoulders.

"For now we should all head home," Luna said, having given them their space. She knew Mercury was smart and her input was not needed on the talk of DNA , nor the conversation with Pluto for she had never met the scout. Though the blood relation was an interesting little tidbit that Luna filed away for future reference, and future discussion with her princess.

* * *

 

Everyone nodded and leapt down to the alley behind the building they were still on top of. Usagi landed smoothly but Mamoru and Ami stumbled a bit on the landing. Usagi could not help but giggle. For once she was not the one messing up though some of her clumsiness had seemed to disappear when she transformed and even now, in her civilian form she was getting back some of the grace she had had in the Millennium. It was nice to not be falling on her face anymore.

"Laugh it up Odango," Mamoru grumbled good naturedly, using the nickname he had given her when he first ran into her, but now with a much nicer tone, "As soon as I'm back in shape that won't be happening."

"I can enjoy it now though can't I?" Usagi replied all innocence.

Ami could only smile at her friend, "We'll catch up soon enough, don't you worry about that!" She said lightly and Usagi only grinned wildly back in reply.

Luna jumped onto Usagi's shoulder, it was quickly becoming her favorite place, "We need to schedule training times, a way of communicating and some training exercises for you two to get you all back in shape."

Both Mamoru and Ami nodded, understanding what the cat wanted them to do, Usagi just huffed at the bossy tone the cat took, "For now," Mamoru said, "Why don't we exchange phone numbers?" He continued pulling out his cellular. Ami and Usagi followed suite and they all put each other in their phone books.

"Well that was easy," Luna said surprised, "But I still think you should have a more secure way of contacting each other, phone lines can be traced after all."

"I might have an idea for communicators," Ami said, "But for now this is a quick solution. I remember we had a palm sized device in the Millennium that could transfer both audio and video. Why don't we try to replicate that?'

"Good idea," Luna agreed. "We should get those as soon as we can though," The Mau added, making a mental note to check both her subspace pockets for one, "I'm still not sure about the phones. Calls can be traced or tapped…. Not that I think the Dark Kingdom would tap three teenagers phone lines but you never know. They may just tap everyone to try and get information and just stumble on you guys. Be careful how you use them until we have our own way alright?"

"Whatever you say mother," Usagi said sarcastically, and then giggled, making Luna realize the blonde was joking with her, "We'll keep Senshi business to a minimum while on the phone okay? I understand our need. And both of you," Usagi added making sure she had both Ami and Mamoru's complete attention, "I'm taking a great risk by letting you know I'm the princess. We _cannot_ let that information get out got that?" She asked sternly, "I am either Sailor Moon or Usagi don't call me Princess or Serenity or anything after today, understand?

Both nodded at her command, though Mamoru smiled and said, "Already taking after your mother I see." Of course Mamoru meant Queen Serenity but for all that he did not know her he could have been referring to Tsukino, Ikuko for she could be just as strict about the way her daughter acted. Usagi simply smiled at the statement. To Usagi it was a compliment.

The three of them then walked to the end of the alley where they had been talking. Mamoru split off from with a wave and heading in the opposite direction from where the girls were headed.

* * *

 

"Do you need to be home anytime soon?" Usagi asked Ami.

"No," Ami answered, "My mother won't be home until much later tonight after she gets off her shift at the hospital, and I already went to cram school. I was actually on my way home from there when Jadeite grabbed me," And Ami shivered at the memory. It was difficult to know that once again those four men had been taken in by that witch.

Usagi looked at her friend, "Why don't you come over my house for a while then?" she suggested with a smile. "My mom would love you and you can start helping me with my homework!"

Ami giggled at her friends antics, "Always the same aren't you?" She asked thinking of the past.

"Hey, I can do it! I just need it explained plainly!" Usagi protested. And from what Ami had seen in school the previous two days, it was indeed true. The simpler the explanation the higher the probability that Usagi would understand the concept, and once she understood it, it was easy enough for her to do it.

Ami giggled again, "Don't worry about it, we'll get you caught up soon enough."

Usagi just grinned as they walked down the various streets. Finally they got to her house. She unlocked the front door and with a call of "Tadaima!" to let her family know she was home.

"Welcome home!" Ikuko called before sticking her head out of the kitchen, "Oh!" She said quietly, and stepped out into full view, folding the small dishtowel she was holding and placing it in her apron pocket, she also tucked her dark purple hair behind her ear.

"Oka-san," Usagi began, "This is Mizuno, Ami, and she's a classmate of mine that just transferred here from another school."

"It's very nice to meet you!" Ikuko said with a large smile. Ami bowed politely and Ikuko returned the gesture.

"It's a pleasure to me you Tsukino-san," Ami said very politely. "Usagi-san invited me to come study with her this evening," she continued.

"Oh that's so good of you to join her," Ikuko said with enthusiasm. "Would the two of you like me to bring a snack up to Usagi-chan's room for you to enjoy?"

"You don't have to," Ami demurred softly.

Usagi trampled her words though by saying, "Thanks Oka-san that would be great!" and proceeded to drag her friend upstairs to her room.

Ami could not help but smile when she entered Usagi's domain. There was an abundance of pink and bunnies in the room. From the rabbit clock to the rabbit and moon bedspread adorning the bed. All the little knickknacks about the room seemed to either have something to do with rabbits or the moon. Considering who the person in front of her was, the moon's were not unexpected. Had not Ami herself showed similar, subconscious tastes as her previous self? The bunnies though had to be because of her name, or even her hairstyle, and Ami recalled that Usagi’s name could be a pun if written properly which would also explain the bunnies.

"Take a seat," Usagi said, putting some cushions on the floor around the square pink table in the center of her room and plopping herself, rather inelegantly, down on one side of said table.

Ami seated herself next to the blonde, though she sat down gently instead of letting gravity do all the work. Usagi unpacked her school bag, pulling out her math, science, literature, English Language and history homework. There was also writing practice and a list of kanji she was supposed to be learning to replace the Hiragana of more juvenile writing.

As Usagi began to make her way slowly through her homework, with Ami’s help of course, they were interrupted by a knock on the bedroom door.

“Come in!” Usagi called, and her mother opened the door holding a tray with glasses of apple juice and a few cookies that smelled newly baked.

“Dinner should be ready soon, but knowing my Usagi-chan she’s always up for a snack!” Ikuko said as she set the tray down on the table where they were working.

“Thank you,” Ami said while Usagi grabbed a cookie and proceeded to eat it in three bites. Ikuko and Ami giggled at the blonde’s anticcs.

“I’ll call you when it’s ready,” Ikuko said and she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Ami refrained from any of the cookies but she did lay claim to one of the glasses of juice, “Your oka-san is very nice,” She finally commented, “To bring you snacks like this.”

“Oh it’s just how my oka-san always is, if I’m actually studying at least. If she finds me not doing my work I usually get yelled at. Same with my chores and anything else,” Usagi said, downed another cookie and going back to her math homework.

In doing so she missed the wistful expression that was on Ami’s face, but she did sense the change in her friends attitude. Looking up Usagi could now see the look in Ami’s eyes. “Ami-chan, is something wrong?” Usagi asked quietly.

“I just wish my oka-san was like yours. She works all the time and isn’t home a lot,” Ami said quietly, but then continued when she saw Usagi’s face, “It’s not as if she doesn’t care, she does! She just has to work a lot so there isn’t time for baking cookies or cooking dinner.”

“What about your otou-san?” Usagi asked, and immediately regretted the question when Ami’s face fell.

“He doesn’t live with us anymore,” Ami said, in almost a whisper. “He paints pictures for a living and one time when he went on a painting trip he just didn’t come back. He sends postcard’s now and again and always sends me one for my birthday though, and it always has a fish on it because he knows I like the water.”

“I’m sorry,” Usagi said just as quietly, “I was just wondering, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” the blonde reached over and held a cookie in front of Ami, “Have one, they always make me feel better.”

Ami looked up, surprised at the compassion in the girl beside her. Her gaze fell from Usagi’s face to the cookie in the other girls hand, still being held out to her. Slowly she reached up and took it and just as slowly she took a bite of the soft treat.

Usagi smiled softly as Ami took the cookie Usagi had offered. She could tell that her friend was feeling better, either from getting what she had said off her shoulders and out in the open or from the cookie she could not tell, but that did not really matter. All that mattered what that her friend was feeling better.

“Now,” Usagi said with her usual energy, though she had to force some of it, “I need to finish my math before dinner or you’ll get to see the not so pleasant side of my oka-san.”

Smiling at the blonde’s obvious change of topic, Ami could not help but feel better. Her friend still liked her for who she was, no strings attached. Ami felt that Usagi was a gracious soul. She could see some of it came from her Princess buried beneath the school girl, but it was as if it was always what she had been that way. As if she would be who she was even if she was not the Princess.

The two of them spend the next three quarters of an hour or so on Usagi’s homework, slowly working their way through the various subjects, taking a break when Usagi got tired of one and slowly rotating them out. Usagi’s attention span was about ten minutes per subject of homework so they had just gotten back to math when Ikuko called them all to dinner.

* * *

 

“Thank you for letting me stay for dinner,” Ami said politely as they all settled around the dining room table.

“It’s not a problem dear,” Ikuko said warmly as Usagi and Shingo made faces at each other behind her back, “Usagi’s other friends don’t come over much so it’s good to have a guest once in a while.”

“Usagi said you just moved here recently?” Kenji asked nicely as the plates of food were passed for everyone to take portions from.

“Yes,” Ami said quietly, “My oka-san received a promotion to head of the medical trauma unit at the General Hospital, but we had to move so that she could be closer by in case anything happened and she needed to be there quickly, where we had been living was simply to far for emergencies.”

“And what about your father dear?” Ikuko asked. Usagi turned to look at her new friend, unsure of how she was going to answer the question. It did seem like a sore subject.

Ami was quite for a moment, before answering, just long enough for the Tsukino’s to realize it was a sore subject, “My father paints,” Ami finally said simply.

“I’m sorry dear, I didn’t know it was a difficult subject for you,” Ikuko said with sympathy.

“You don’t have to share if you don’t want to,” Kenji added, trying to make the blue haired girl more at ease.

Shingo wasn’t really concerned with feelings or anything and asked, “What does he paint?”

Ami smiled at the family she was eating with, “He paints a lot of fish,” she told the young boy.

“Cool!” He said with enthusiasm and went back to his dinner.

Usagi let out the breath she had not realized she was holding. She was not naive. She knew that not all families were like hers, with both parents and a sibling, a lot of people had very different lives from the Tsukino’s average upper middle class one. This was the first time she had really been confronted by it and it hurt that she could not do anything to help her friend.

Dinner continued without much interruption after that, as they all settled down and enjoyed their food. Kenji managed to draw Ami into a semi-political discussion talking about his job as a photographer and journalist for the local paper. After that Ikuko had asked her something about what she intended to do out of high school.

The conversation moved and flowed with ease and Ami found herself truly enjoying herself. Something she felt like the had not done in a long time. And she found that she actually liked it and wanted to repeat the experience in the future.

A little while later as Usagi was helping Ami get her things so that she could head home, Ikuko stopped them in the hallway, “You’ll always be welcome for dinner dear,” She said with a smile, “We try to have it every night as a family, so you’re welcome to join us.”

Ami bowed, “Thank you very much,” then she smiled, “My mother doesn’t normally work as late as this, things have just been hectic with her getting used to her position, but thank you, I really do appreciate your offer.”

Ikuko nodded and smiled warmly at the girls before moving off down the hall, humming a little tune to herself.

Usagi walked Ami to the door, “Sure you don’t want company walking home?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine Usagi-chan,” Ami said with a smile. Sometime over the course of the evening she had slipped from calling her -san to calling her -chan, Usagi did not mind a bit and Ami felt that she liked it as well.

Usagi nodded, “I’ll see you in the morning then,” and then she smiled, “Thanks for all the help, really, I think I can actually finish the stuff on my own now!”

“That’s great, and we can go over things in the morning if you make it to school early enough!” Ami teased with a laugh.

“I’ll do my best,” Usagi said and gave a mock salute.

Ami laughed and slipped her shoes on, then she was down the path to the street and around the corner. Usagi stood in the doorway for a moment and though about the evening. She hoped that the other scouts were as accepting of their destiny as Ami was. With a shake of her head as if to clear it Usagi shut the door and headed to the kitchen. With her mother upstairs she knew it was safe to grab some leftovers.

* * *

 

Heaping a bunch of leftover chicken onto a plate Usagi moved upstairs quickly and entered her room, shutting it behind her. “Luna,” She called quietly, “I brought you some dinner if you’d like it.”

Within moments the Mau popped in the open window, “Thanks Usagi,” she said quietly and then caught the smell of the food in the blonde’s hands, “That does smell good, did your mother make it?”

Usagi put the plate down for the Mau and sat back at the table in her room, “Yeah, she did. I think you would have liked dinner downstairs but, I agree with you that telling my family wouldn’t be the best idea right now though.”

Luna swallowed her mouthful before replying to the girl, she did not have Usagi’s manners after all, “Maybe someday they can know, but for now it is best if they don’t know. It’s safer if they simply think you’re out with friends all the time.”

Usagi laced her fingers together as she rested her elbows on the table and placed her chin on her laced fingers, eyes staring unfocused at the wall, “I just wish I could explain to them what’s happening. They’re in danger because of something from my past. I want to protect them, I want to protect everyone. I won’t let the past repeat itself.”

“I know you won’t, Usagi,” Luna said gently, and hoped onto the table and rubbed her cheat against the blonde’s. “We’ll defeat this power, you’ll see and we’ll have everyone back together as well.”

Usagi sighed, “Yeah, you’re right, I just… it seems so hopeless right now, you know?” And wish a shrug grabbed a textbook.

Luna decided to let her be and finished the food that Usagi had brought her.

Finally their evening came to a close and Usagi climbed into bed, making sure to set her alarm for the correct time. Luna curled up on the bed next to her and they both drifted off.


	6. Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Moon Kingdom dreaming stuff.
> 
> Seriously, the Senshi need to train. They live in freaking TOKYO. Where are they going to find a private spot in that city? They may be able to use a park to have a conversation, but they can't go practicing attacks there or anything.
> 
> This seemed like a good solution, especially because I have Queen Serenity actually being around and interacting them. Think of the way she is as an upgraded version of the super-computer hologram from the manga.

Usagi dreamt as she had for the past two nights.

Finding herself once again among the gardens of the Moon palace, Usagi knew that Queen Serenity had more training in store for her. However, she decided that wandering the gardens for a little while could not hurt. And so she let herself be distracted by the magnificent flowering blooms all around.

Turning a corner around some tall bushes Usagi stopped short, “Ami-chan?” she asked surprised to see the blue clad scout there in the garden.

Ami turned when she heard the voice come up behind her. Whatever reply she had thought of though died on her lips when she was who was standing there. “Usagi-chan?” Ami said sounding confused, then she tilted her head to the said and put a gloved finger to her chin and smiled, “Or should I say Serenity right now?”

“Huh?” Usagi said intelligently and looked down at herself and realized that she was once again in her princess form. Serenity smiled at the bluenette, “Either is fine, though if we’re here to do what I think we are, this isn’t the best attire to be wearing.”

“Oh?” Mercury said mildly.

“Mm,” Serenity hummed as she thought. “Now how did she do that last night?” She asked out loud.

“How did who do what?” Came a deep male vice from behind Serenity causing her to whirl around in surprise.

“Chiba-san!” Serenity said surprised to find he was standing there, but not nearly as surprised to see him as Endymion.

Mamoru looked confused for a couple of seconds before he smiled, “That works,” then he ran his hand through his hair and let out a little laugh, “This is going to get confusing, having three names!”

Serenity shared his laugh, “I know what you mean,” She said through her own giggles.

Mercury only giggled at them, “Three isn’t so bad,” she said.

Serenity rolled her eyes then said, “Easy for you to say Princess Hermione VIII.” Mercury blushed at hearing her whole given name from the Millennium, leaving her friend to her blush Serenity turned back to Endymion, “To answer your question, I was trying to think of how Mother got my transformation broach here to the dream world.”

“Oh,” Endymion said, only slightly less confused than he had been, “So we’re all asleep right now?” he asked while Mercury giggled at his expense.

“Soft of,” was Serenity’s not too helpful answer, “Our bodies are asleep and to some degree our minds are as well. Our souls are here in this reconstruction of the Moon Palace. Why do you think we three are dressed as we are? By choice? No, these are the forms which our souls automatically take when not within our bodies,” Serenity continued. “That is why I appear as Serenity, Ami-chan appears as Sailor Mercury, and you are dressed as Endymion.”

Serenity’s last statement made Endymion look down at himself, “You know,” he said with a smile, “I hadn’t even noticed.”

“Neither did I at first,” Mercury added.

Both turned back to Serenity but she did not appear to be listening anymore. She had a look of concentration on her face. Holding out her right hand Serenity was trying to summon her broach.

After a few moments the small piece of gold jewelry appeared in her hand. She let out a yell of triumph.

Endymion and Mercury laughed at the silver-haired womans antics.

“Now that you have that thing, what are you going to do?” Endymion asked lightly.

“Well, first,” Serenity said with mock seriousness, “We should all go find Queen Serenity. She’s who brought us here tonight. I was here the other night for some training myself and I think that’s what she has in mind….” And Serenity trailed off, her eyes losing focus.

 _You are correct, darling,_ Queen Serenity said in Serenity’s mind, _Meet me at the doors to the training area._

“Earth, or rather Moon to Serenity!” Mercury was saying when Serenity refocused on her surroundings.

Serenity giggled before saying, “Sorry Mercury, Mother told me where she was so that we can find her.”

“Oh, is that all,” Endymion said sarcastically, then swung an arm around her shoulder, “Glad to know it wasn’t something serious.”

“You know,” Serenity began, “It would probably help Luna if she was here too…” she trailed off. _Mother?_ Serenity then asked silently.

Her answer was quickly forthcoming as the form of a woman appeared off to one side of the group. After a moment she was solid, clothed in a yellow and black dress, long black hair with double buns and a golden crescent moon on her brow. Eyes opened to show blue orbs.

“Luna!” Serenity said happily clasping her hands together in front of her chest, “So good of you to join us!”

Endymion and Mercury just shared a look, Mercury rolling here eyes at her Princesses antics.

Luna looked startled and went to take a step forward and stopped holding her hands up in front of her face, almost as if she could not quite believe what she was seeing and feeling, “My human form,” The Lunar cat gasped in surprise. Then she smiled brightly and stretched her arms above her head and then out, “Goddess that feels good,” she said and then did a little twirl, just for the joy of it.

The group laughed at the Mau’s antics. But Serenity soon grew serious, “We should head to where Mother is, we are here for a reason after all.”

Mercury nodded, “Lead the way then,” She said, “After all, you’re the one that knows where the Queen is.”

Serenity’s laugh tinkled in the quiet garden air, “Come on then,” She said with a slight wave and took off toward the massive palace that loomed beyond the garden.

The other three soon followed the silver haired girl, glad that her hair and dress stood out among the greenery. Serenity slowed as she reached the garden entrance, letting the others catch up, then led them through a twisty maze of passages. Soon Luna and Mercury recognized where they were going but let Serenity keep the lead and did not say anything so that Endymion could enjoy the surprise.

Turning one last corner, the three people with Serenity stopped short. Serenity however continued forward and threw her arms around her past mother in a hug.

“Welcome, all of you,” Queen Serenity said with a smile when the younger Serenity had released her. “I’ve brought you all here for a very specific purpose tonight.”

“Queen Serenity,” Mercury said breathlessly. She then took the remaining steps toward her Queen and went down on one knee to show respect.

“Rise, Sailor Mercury,” Queen Serenity said, “I didn’t like you bowing to me before and I still don’t,” she continued.

Mercury stood and nodded, but continued to look unsure of herself. Endymion took the opportunity to move forward. He only did a short bow from the waist and greeted the Queen, “Your Majesty,” he said quietly.

Queen Serenity smiled at the Earth Prince, “You are always welcome here Endymion,” She said and Mamoru bowed his head in acknowledgment. Queen Serenity then turned toward Luna, “Luna, my dear friend, it is good to see you again,” she said.

Luna inclined her head toward the Queen, “And you, your majesty,” she said, her voice full of feeling.

Smiling, Queen Serenity waved to the doors on her left, “As you know, two of you are only recently awakened and are in need of some training to get you up to speed on your powers. I believe there is no better place then where the Senshi first trained them in the first place.”

Endymion was surprised that the Queen would let a mere Earthling into such a hallowed space. As if sensing his thoughts, _And she probably did!_ He thought to himself, remembering quite a few times Serenity the younger had read his mind, she turned to him with a small smile, “You were never unwelcome here,” Queen Serenity said to him, looking over her daughters head, “But the events of the past did not allow for such luxuries as visits to training facilities.”

Serenity turned to him with a smile, “Come, let’s see what mother has planned for tonight.” With that she turned and pushed the doors open.  The other’s followed her into the room.

Luna stepped up next to the Queen as the other three moved toward the center of the room.  “Endymion, Serenity, you should both transform,” Queen Serenity said. “On Earth you do not have access to the powers that your current forms have.” With dual nods the two of them transformed with flashes of light, a deep gold for Endymion and a white for Serenity. When everyone’s eyes cleared Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon were standing there. “Now,” Queen Serenity said, “Lets get you three going.”  Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury exchanged knowing glances, they knew the kind of training task mistress the Queen could be.

* * *

 

Once again Serenity lost track of time while training and only realized how long it had been when Queen Serenity called the three of them to a halt, “The night is almost over,” She said and then smiled when the three of them looked surprised, “Don’t be like that, time flows differently here then in the real world.  However all the skills you have gained while here will be remembered and you will again be able to use them.  I will not bring you here often, only when you find a new scout or you truly need some help.”

Sailor Moon nodded in understanding, “I understand mother,” She said, “Our home is now the Earth and we must stay there and protect it.  Someday I hope we can rebuild our kingdom, but for now the Earth is where we belong.”

Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Mask looked at Sailor Moon in surprise, both didn’t know what to make of the words she had just spoken.  But they knew she was right. The Earth was their home now. They had been born there, their family and friends were there and they were all determined to protect it. Though, they could not help smiling at the maturity they were now seeing. It was good to see it in their princess.

“Now,” Queen Serenity said, “We still have a little bit of time before you all have to wake up, so if you have any questions I’ll try to answer them before you leave.”

Mercury beat them all to the chase when she blurted out, “Do you know what’s happening to our bodies?” and then looked rather embarrassed at her outburst.

“Don’t worry Mercury, you didn’t speak out of turn,” Queen Serenity said with a small smile at the knowledge Senshi, “However I cannot answer your question. I simply wanted you all, and everyone in our kingdom, to have a new chance at life. I sent you forward with the power of the Ginzuisho and it can work in strange ways when not given specific instructions. I wish I could explain what is happening to you all, what will happen to all of you but I cannot. I am sorry,” She said.

“Your Majesty,” Endymion said, taking a step forward and continued when the deceased monarch turned to him, “Thank you for giving us this second chance at life.”

“I require no thanks, Prince,” Queen Serenity said, “We all deserve to live a life free from evil and oppression.  Unfortunately, now you are all called to fight once again.  I never had to become the Senshi of the Moon when I was alive, but my mother did in order to protect our system from an outside even she never fully told me about. I did not want to see my daughter have to use that power, but things did not work out in our favor.”

“You could have been a Senshi?” Luna asked, surprised, turning to stare at her oldest friend, she had not known, for she had entered Queen Serenity’s service after the former queen had passed.

Queen Serenity smiled, “Yes, Luna my friend, I could have, but things were quiet enough that there was no need.  I was powerful enough with simply the Ginzuisho until Mettalia and Beryl came, and by then things were too late.” Luna nodded in understanding, but she looked a little sad, and the Queen continued before anyone could ask anything else, “It is time for you all to go,” She said.  “My daughter,” she continued and Sailor Moon threw herself into her arms, “Do not forget your Earth friends, and remember I am here if you need me,” the Queen released the blonde and took a step back from them.  “I will bring you all here again when you awaken the next Senshi,” She said and then everything started to fade.  “Remember to be strong and remember everything you stand for and fight for,” the Queen smiled again, “May Selene watch over you.”

With one final exchanged look they all faded from sight. The palace around Queen Serenity then seemed to melt at reality overtook the dream. The spirit of the last monarch of the Moon looked up at the blue jewel of the Earth above her. “Be safe, all of you,” she whispered to the darkness, and then she too, along with the ruins around her, faded into nothingness.


	7. Normal as Can Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They need to do something normal right?
> 
> And it's a good way to get them doing that other than sitting in a classroom. Besides, I think this is more interesting to read.

Usagi’s alarm brought her forcefully into the waking world that morning. With a slight groan Usagi sat up and groped for her alarm clock. Finding the offending time piece she managed to turn it off.

Luna looked up from the cushion Usagi had put at the end of the bed for her. She did not look quite awake yet and Usagi give a small giggle at the Mau on her bed.

“Glad to see you’re up on time,” Luna said, stretching.

Usagi made a face at the cat as she herself stretched at well, “I’m perfectly capable of getting up on time,” she told the cat, “I just like my sleep.”

“Is that why your mother always seems to be yelling that you’re going to be late?” Luna retorted.

Usagi gave a very un-lady like snort and headed off toward the bathroom. When she returned Luna was in the middle of a back flip, a pile of random objects on Usagi’s floor. The girl watched as another item appeared as Luna landed.

“Not what I was looking for,” Luna said quietly, as the object hit the carpet with a dull thud, not noticing Usagi had returned.

“Looking for something?” Usagi asked as she sat down at her dresser to do her hair.

“As a matter of fact I am,” Luna replied not the least put out by Usagi’s question. “I have a computer somewhat like Mercury’s, but I can’t seem to find it. I also thought I might have one of your old communicators in here but apparently not.”

“Sure you didn’t leave it on the Moon?” Usagi asked, securing her left bun in place with some bobby pins and an elastic. There was even more silver in it this morning, though it was not quite noticeable to the average person, yet, Usagi knew Ami and Mamoru would be able to tell when they saw her though.

Luna gave the girl a quick glare, “Yes I’m sure.” Luna then leapt into the air and did another flip. This time a purple item that looked like Mercury’s computer appeared.

Before Usagi could comment on Luna’s success at finding the first object, Ikuko called up from downstairs, “Usagi! You’d better hurry up!”

“Coming Oka-san!” Usagi called back through her door and quickly finished with her other bun. Grabbing her broach she pinned it to her uniform before grabbing her things and putting them in her bag. “I’ll see you later Luna,” Usagi said quickly and started to walk out the door. Then stopped, turned around, and opened the window over her bed. “That way you don’t need to sneak out of the house through the door,” she said with a smile and was gone down the stairs. A couple of minutes later she was out the door and on her way to school, jogging at a fairly sedate pace.

* * *

 

Along the way Usagi’s attention was caught by a sign in a shop window for a festival at the park the next day, which happened to be Sunday, so no school.

“Perfect!” Usagi exclaimed and pulled out her phone. Quickly taking a picture she texted it to both Ami and Mamoru, along with Naru and Umino asking if they were interested. Usagi included Naru and Umino because she was not about to forget her first friends from Earth. She needed Ami and Mamoru’s support for fighting Mettalia, and she could share her past with them, but that was no reason to forget two friends she had had since childhood. Usagi hoped that someday, she could talk to them about it too.

By the time she go to school Mamoru had replied that he thought it was great. But neither Ami, Naru or Umino had not replied yet but Usagi didn’t have to worry. As she reached the front gate of the school her three friends were waiting for you.

“That festival looks really fun!” Naru said, “Where did you find that poster?”

“About two blocks away,” Usagi said with a smile.

“It looks like it will be an amusing time,” Umino said, adjusting his classes. The three girls rolled their eyes at his words.

Ami smiled at Usagi, “I think it’s a great idea,” she said. She knew that there was a hidden intent in Usagi’s sudden interest in the festival. She had mentioned getting to know Ami and Mamoru better and it looked like she was keeping her word. Ami also thought it was nice that Usagi was including her Earth friends in their activities as well. As long as nobody was going to be in danger, there was no reason to push them away.

The warning bell rang, causing all of them to jump, then they rushed into the school building.

* * *

 

When lunch rolled around Usagi sent Mamoru a message asking if he was OK with two of Usagi’s other friends could come. He messaged back that it was not a problem. They all decided to meet up at the park entrance the next day for the festival.

When they got out of school that afternoon, Naru headed off to her mom’s jewelry store and Umino tagged along. Usagi walked with Ami to her cram school and they agreed to meet up after that and stop by Naru’s family shop.

“You didn’t have to walk with me Usagi-chan,” Ami said as they neared her cram school.

“I wanted to Ami-chan,” Usagi said with a smile. “You’re my friend too.”

Ami blushed, “Thank you,” she said quietly.

“Remember, meet me at the arcade when you’re done, you’ll love Naru’s oka-san’s shop,” Usagi said as Ami turned to head into the building.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there,” Ami said with a smile.

“Good!” Usagi exclaimed with a final wave and headed off to the arcade to kill the couple of hours while Ami was at school.

* * *

 

Usagi was on her fifth try on that particular Sailor V game machine (after going through about 6 others) when Ami walked into the door of the arcade. Though Usagi’s back was to the door she felt her friend coming and called, “Over here Ami-chan!” and attempted to finish the level she was on.

Motoki looked up in surprise as Usagi called out to the new girl. Of course he had seen her around before (Usagi had nearly dragged the poor girl in to show her around), but he thought it was interesting that Usagi knew it was Ami when her back was to the door. Motoki shrugged to himself, thinking she probably saw Ami’s reflection in the console in front of her or something similar.

When Ami reached Usagi she said, “Are you ready to study some more tonight? Last night seemed to really help.”

“Sure, I’m just trying to finish this level,” Usagi said, but she need not have said it for no sooner did the words leave her mouth that her character died. Ami giggled as Usagi pouted at the machine. “I can never get past this one,” She muttered darkly at the screen. “Anyways,” She said with a smile, “Ready to head out?”

Ami nodded, still giggling slightly, she was beginning to notice that Usagi had extremely quick mood swings sometimes, from serious to bubbly to back again in heartbeats. “Bye Motoki,” Ami said with a small wave as Usagi gathered her things and lead the way out the door of the arcade and onto the bright sun drenched sidewalk outside.

The girls chatted about their afternoons as they walked, and what they were planning to wear to the festival the next day since they were not required to wear their uniforms. The conversation lasted until they reached the block where Naru’s mother’s shop was.

“It’s just up here,” Usagi said as Ami followed her up the street.

They were in front of the shop next door when the window of their destination blew out into the street. Sharing a knowing look both girls ducked into the alley between the buildings and transformed with small flashes of light. Then they raced back out of the alley and into the shop.

Standing in the middle of the shop floor, with collapsed women and a few men all around, stood a youma that appeared almost human. But it was rapidly becoming more ugly as time went on. Sailor Moon’s attention though, was drawn by Naru, slumped in a corner, tears in her eye’s, surprisingly still conscious. She stared at Sailor Moon and Mercury with wide eye’s, glancing between the Senshi and the monster in the middle of the room anxiously. There was no site of Umino which made the two Senshi grateful that he had apparently gone home since they had last seen him.

“Alright creep,” Sailor Moon said with a bit of bravado, “Prepare to be dusted.”

Sailor Moon gave Sailor Mercury a quick glance, getting the message, Mercury ducked out of the way as Sailor Moon headed straight for the youma. Mercury made it over to Naru, glad that their friend was okay.

“C’mon,” Mercury said quietly, dragging Naru to her feet.

“That’s my oka-san!” Naru exclaimed quietly as Mercury dragged her to hide behind a half wall in the shop, the wall at least, would provide some cover.

Mercury did her best to stop the wince she could feel at her friends words, “Don’t worry, we’ll get your oka-san back,” she told Naru, and then vaulted over the wall praying that she hadn’t given her friend false hope. Moving to stand next to Sailor Moon, who was in the middle of a stare-off with the youma, she whispered, “She’s taken over Naru’s oka-san,” to the blonde next to her.

Sailor Moon’s expression grew hard and she gave the barest of nods. The youma then suddenly broke their staring contest and launched itself at the two Senshi. Each girl leapt to either side and the youma hit carpet.

“Mercury, distract it,” Sailor Moon said just as a rose came flying through the air pinning one of the monsters hands to the ground. Whipping around Sailor Moon smiled to see Tuxedo Mask standing there, “Good timing,” she said with a jovial smile which Mamoru returned.

“I try,” he said before moving up next to Mercury as Sailor Moon fell back a few steps.

The youma growled then using its free hand tore the rose from its position and crushed it in its hand. Tux got into a defensive stance, holding his cane in front of him like he would his sword and Mercury - to Tux’s amusement and Sailor Moon’s pride - slid into a fighting stance she had learned back in the Millennium. The monster charged and both dodged, keeping it away from Sailor Moon as the scout started speaking the spell she knew she needed to return Mrs. Osaka to normal.  After a few more moments of dodging and a little bit of counter attacking, Mercury and Tux heard Sailor Moon’s muttering in Lunarian stop and they both leapt out of the way as Sailor Moon loosed the spell that she had wrought.

It hit the unsuspecting youma dead in the center of the chest. A golden glow began emanating from that spot as the whole creature was engulfed in that light. The spirit of the youma within gave a decent fight but after a few tense moments it was dusted and Mrs. Osaka was there but unconscious and she collapsed to the ground before anyone could catch her. They moved her so she was in a better position and not crumpled uncomfortably on the ground.

“Naru!” Sailor Moon called having to consciously remember not to automatically put chan after her name, she did not want to reveal herself to her friend, as much as she might want to, it was much to dangerous, “You’re oka-san will be fine and the monster is gone, you can come out now.”

Slowly a pair of eyes peered around the wall and when she did not see the monster Naru bolted to her mother’s side. “Oka-san!” She said grabbing her mother’s hand and crying a little, the stress finally getting to her now that everything was done.

“Naru, listen to me,” Sailor Moon said.

Finally seeming to realize that these strange vigilante’s knew here name Naru could only blurt out, “How do you know who I am?”

Sailor Moon smiled and tapped the side of her nose with a long gloved finger and said, “It’s a secret,” then she sobered and added, “Your oka-san will be fine with just some rest. We have to go now, but know you have a friend in us.”

With that, Sailor Moon stood in one smooth motion and motioned Tux and Mercury. The three then left through the smashed window they had entered by and leapt to the roof just as the police cars showed up due to the store alarms. After a a few moments they leapt a few roofs over so as no to attract attention and de-transformed. Usagi and Ami were back in their school uniforms but apparently Mamoru had been at the gym and he was standing there in sneakers, and grey sweatpants and t-shirt.

“So how’d you know to show up?” Usagi asked as she sat down on a piece of machinery on the roof.

Mamoru leaned against and air conditioning unit and said, “I’m not quite sure, it was just a gut feeling that you needed help, the Earth told me where I could find you after I transformed, otherwise I’d be all the way across town right now.”

“Huh, interesting,” Usagi said.

“Was your feeling just about Usagi-chan or both of us?” Ami asked curiously.

Mamoru’s cheeks turned a little pink at that, “Just Usagi-san,” he said.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Ami said thoughtfully. While Usagi’s brows knit together as she thought about what that meant.

“You read to much Doyle,” Mamoru commented his blush fading.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Ami replied.

“Doyle?” Usagi asked, barely pronouncing the English name.

“The English author who wrote _Sherlock Holmes_ ,” Mamoru said then stood up straight, “I should finish my workout and judging by the time you two have schoolwork to do.”

“Indeed,” Ami said with a small smile.

Usagi groaned at the thought then asked, “Still going to come tomorrow?”

“I’ll see you there,” Mamoru said with a smile and took off, leaping off across a couple of buildings before disappearing down between them and going on his way.

Turning to Ami, Usagi asked, “There’s only about an hour before dinner, sure you still want to come over?”

“Yeah, my mother and I eat later than you do so I’ll stay until you have dinner and then go home,” Ami replied with a smile.

Usagi smiled, “Alright,” she said and with that they were gone from the roof.

* * *

 

The two girls holed up in Usagi’s room when they got to her house. Usagi was determined to get through as much of her homework as possibly before Ami had to go home. Ikuko brought them snacks again, quite pleased with the way things were developing. She could see that her daughter had made another close friend and that Ami had gained a good friend in Usagi.

Now it was dinner time and though Ikuko had asked Ami if she had wanted to stay, the girl had politely turned her down, telling Ikuko that she and her mother ate later than the Tsukino’s and that she had a half hour to get home before that time.

Ikuko accepted it with a smile and turned back to getting everything on the table.

As Usagi and Ami turned towards the entryway of the house Kenji called, “Usagi-chan, Ami-san, come here would you?”

Slightly confused both girls entered the living room and Kenji pointed at the television and asked, “Usagi isn’t that your friend Naru-san’s shop?”

Ami’s eye’s went wide and Usagi struggled to keep a shocked expression off her face. They had been caught on the security camera. The news woman on the program was saying how they police had originally thought the place had been robbed but the daughter of the owner (Ami and Usagi knew that was Naru, but as she was a minor they did not say her name) had insisted that it had not and they had looked at the tape to be sure and lo and behold, there the Senshi were, caught on camera and looped at the point when Usagi had used the Lunarian spell on the youma to turn Mrs. Osaka back to normal. It showed them, but they were all slightly out of focus while the rest of image was as sharp as the camera could make it. Usagi made a mental note to ask Luna about that when she saw that cat.

Finally Usagi managed to say, “Uh, yeah…. Yeah it is,” in reply to her father’s question, glad that her voice wasn’t as shaky as she felt.

“What’s this about Naru-chan?” Ikuko asked coming into the living room. It was a strange sight, her daughter and her new friend were watching the news with closed expressions, her husband though was watching with interest. Ikuko focused on the two girls though, what she saw the other night running through her mind. She glanced from Usagi to the blonde figure on the television and back, there was a striking similarity, especially in the hairstyle. Ikuko kept her thoughts to herself though as she watched the scene play out.

“Her oka-san’s shop got attacked by one of those youma,” Usagi said not taking her eyes off the screen. They had stopped looping her spell and were now showing Naru coming out of hiding and the quick discussion they had afterward. The video did not have any audio which Usagi was silently grateful for.

“Experts are trying to determine the cause of the light that emanated from the vigilante Sailor Moon’s hands. The police assure us that everyone who was knocked out has woken up and are doing well. Hopefully we will have more information for you in our next broadcast,” the newscaster said, her voice seeming loud in the suddenly quiet house.

“I need to get home,” Ami said suddenly, looking at the time, “Oka-san will be home soon.”

“Alright dear, be safe,” Ikuko told the bluenette with a smile.

Usagi went with Ami to the door, “I’m going to ask Luna about why we’re blurry as soon as I see her,” she said quietly so her parents would not here, then added after a moments though, “And about what Chiba-san said about sensing I was in danger.”

Ami nodded, “And I’ll use my computer to see if I can’t find some way to track the youma so we know where they appear,” she said just as quietly.

“Good thinking,” Usagi said as Ami slipped her shoes on, “You might want to try it with your visor too,” she added, referring to the one Ami had in her Senshi uniform. Then she gave Ami a quick hug around the shoulders, “See you at the park at noon,” she added with a bright smile and Ami was out the door heading home.

* * *

 

After dinner when Usagi returned to her room she found Luna curled on her cushion at the foot of Usagi’s bed. Luna looked up when Usagi entered and at the serious look on Usagi’s face the Mau asked, “What’s wrong?”

Usagi flopped back down at the low table in her room and stared sullenly at her homework. After a few moments Usagi said, “Ami-chan, Chiba-san and I had to save Naru-chan from a youma. Her Oka-san had been turned into the youma and I used an exorcising spell I was taught in the Millennium to turn her back to normal. Apparently the youma set off the alarms ‘cause the police showed up just as we were leaving. They found the security tapes and we were on the news.”

“The news?” Luna asked surprised.

“Yeah,” Usagi said chin resting on her interlaced fingers, “We were all blurry but the rest was fine. It’s a good thing there wasn’t any sound.”

“Blurry,” Luna muttered to herself and then jumped off the bed and dragged out the mini computer she had dug out that morning. Nudging it open she began tapping away at the keys as Usagi watched. Frowning Luna read whatever was on the screen before saying, “Apparently your transformations were altered.”

“Altered? How?” Usagi asked sitting up a bit straighter.

“Hmm,” Luna mumbled for a moment before tapping a few more keys, “Ah, here it is,” Luna said, “The Senshi transformations used to be simple, it gave you access to your planetary powers that you couldn’t use in your base form, but an extra layer of protective spells have been added to hide your identity from anyone who hasn’t been directly told.”

“I wonder why?” Usagi asked rhetorically.

Luna only shook her head not having an answer. Catching the look on Usagi’s face the Mau asked, “There’s something else isn’t there?”

Usagi sighed, “Yeah,” she said after a moment, “It’s nothing bad, so don’t worry. It’s just that Chiba-san showed up because he sensed I was in danger. Me, not Ami-chan. We asked him. It was just me.”

“Do you remember what Sailor Venus said the first time she saw the two of you together?” Luna asked after a few moments consideration.

Scrunching her face up in concentration Usagi thought back to those early encounters. Venus had caught her sneaking off to see Endymion and followed and had cried out in shock when she had seen them together.

After another couple of moments Usagi said, “She was shocked that the red string of fate connecting us wasn’t a string, but a rope in size and that we shared a deep bond. Deeper than anything she’d seen before.”

“Exactly,” Luna said. “We both know that you and Endymion could sense each other with unerring accuracy after a short while in the Millennium. It only makes sense that that bond is reestablishing itself in the present. Which would explain perfectly how he sensed you were in danger and not Ami.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Usagi said after she thought about it for a little bit. Giving herself a little shake as if to clear her mind, Usagi turned herself back to her homework, wanting to get it done so she could enjoy the festival the next day.

The rest of the evening passed quickly and before Usagi laid down to sleep that night she threw her senses out into the city around her, searching for the three familiar aura’s that would stand out like stars to her. A small smile showed itself when she found one at a shrine and wormed her way through their mental shields to implant the dream she wanted to send.

Task done, Usagi got ready for bed, making sure to take the now empty plate back downstairs and to place the cushion Luna had taken a liking too on the bed next to her. That complete girl and Mau both drifted off to sleep, looking forward to the day ahead.


	8. Festival Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usagi wants to enjoy her friends and some normality but it seems that there's always something.

Usagi woke to her alarm clock the next morning. But it was a gentler waking than normal due to her setting it to a later hour. Luna was still asleep as she sat up and stretched then headed for the bathroom.

The Mau was awake when Usagi returned from the bathroom, already tapping away at the keyboard of her little computer.

“What are you working on?” Usagi asked curiously.

“The same problem as Ami,” Luna replied, “Along with the extent of the changes to your transformation process.”

“Alright,” Usagi said slowly, she was not dumb but the stuff Ami and Luna could do amazed her. “Anyways,” she said, changing the subject, “Are you sure you don’t want to come to the park?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Luna said and you could hear a little bit of the smile in her voice. “Besides, your normal friends are going to be there as well, can’t have us slipping up and having them realize that there’s something else going on,” she added.

Usagi sighed, “I guess you’re right,” she agreed as she sat down to do her hair. She could not help but notice that every day since she regained her memories it had been longer and longer. Glad that the silver sheen still was not very noticeable, Usagi finished putting her buns up, and debated the solution to her hair problem she’d come up with the day before, decided to wait another day. After slipping on the pink sun dress she had picked out, she grabbed a small bag for her wallet, phone, and transformation broach.

Checking to make sure she had everything she gave Luna a quick hug, “I’ll tell you how things go when I get back.” After double checking the window was open, Usagi was out the door and on her way to the park, grabbing the picnic basket she had asked her mother for on the way.

* * *

 

Usagi met Ami at the entrance to he park. Naru and Umino arrived shortly after - and Usagi could not help but smile that they arrived together. They had to wait a little longer for Mamoru, who approached in motorcycle riding gear, helmet tucked under his arm.

“You ride?” Usagi asked with a smile as he joined the group.

“Have for two years now,” He replied as he unzipped his black and red leather riding jacket.

Usagi caught Naru’s surprised face and Umino’s curious expressions and hurried to do the introductions, “Guys,” she said to Naru and Umino, “This is Chiba, Mamoru. Chiba-san,” she continued, “This is Osaka, Naru and Gurio, Umino.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Mamoru said and held out a hand.

“How do you know Usagi-chan, Chiba-san?” Umino asked as he took the offered hand and gave it a quick shake, repeating the gesture with Naru.

“Oh, we just ran into each other,” Mamoru said with a bit of a laugh making Usagi laugh a little, and Ami smile.

Usagi could tell that Naru was having a bit of a crush on Mamoru. And she could see why, he was very handsome. The part of her psyche that was Serenity was starting to feel a little jealous but Usagi quickly squashed it because she knew it was only passing and she could not blame her friend for appreciating a good looking guy.

“How about we find a spot to sit?” Usagi asked

“Oh, yeah,” Naru said, “I brought some folding seats,” showing the group the bag that was bulging from the contents.

“And I have the picnic!” Usagi said enthusiastically, holding up the rather large basket. Ikuko had really outdone herself.

With that the group moved to join the throng moving into the park. Usagi could not help but feel glad she had seen the sign for the flower festival. They strolled for a while chatting amicably until they found and unoccupied spot they could claim.

Setting up the chairs they ended up in a loose semi-circle watching people go by and looking at the flower displays that had been placed around the park.

Naru commented on one of them, then Mamoru, and then what little tension there was broke and they settled into easy conversation.

* * *

 

Usagi’s awareness drifted in and out as her friends conversation flowed around her. The atmosphere at the festival was, for the most part, happy and easy-going. Suddenly Usagi ran smack into the last aura she thought she would find at an event like this. She had decided that she was not going to deal with any Senshi business today, but fate had to intervene.

Something must have shown on her face because Naru soon asked, “Usagi-chan, what’s wrong?” which snapped Usagi back to her friends.

Thinking quickly, Usagi smiled and said, “Oh, I just forgot to do something at home before I left and oka-san will probably be ticked at me when I get home.” Mamoru and Ami gave her a look like they did not believe her, _Later, it’s about Mars_ , she projected to them quickly before turning back to what Umino was rattling on about with the different types of flowers. It was a good thing Naru had focused back on what Umino was saying because she missed the surprised looks on Ami and Mamoru’s faces.

After a moment Usagi saw them both give minute nods and gave one of her own in return. They were going to have to talk about this - later.

Soon enough the picnic basket was exhausted and they gathered their things to begin walking once again. They followed the paths as they went deeper into the park, finally coming to a large open space where there were booths set up. Usagi pinpointed Mars’ aura and was not surprised to see a black haired girl about her age sitting at a booth. What was surprising was her priestess garb and the fact she was running a booth selling good luck charms that was sponsored by the “Hikawa Shrine” according to the sign.

_Of course Mars would be at a shrine_ , Usagi could not help but think after a few moments. A quick look at Ami and Mamoru showed that they both recognized her as well. She looked very similar to her previous life and Usagi knew that they all would.

Usagi caught Naru staring at her out of the corner of her eye and forced a smile, “Don’t worry Naru-chan, it’s nothing big, don’t worry about it.”

Naru looked confused for a moment and Umino was simply lost, not understanding what was passing between the girls, finally Naru smiled a little and nodded and they continued walking. Usagi did not stop to speak with the priestess at the booth. She knew she would have to figure out a way of approaching her and helping her regain her memories without pushing her away. Mars had always had a temper and the wrong move could ruin everything. It would take some careful thinking. Usagi also wondered about how quickly everyone was coming together. It was as if, as soon as she awoke, everyone else started gathering as if by some signal. Ami moved across town, Mars running the booth for a shrine at a festival Usagi was going to, Mamaru running into her that first day… In Usagi’s opinion it was more than coincidence and someone was pulling strings. Maybe Setsuna, but she usually was not _that_ manipulative, and something like this would have taken a lot of work.

After a moment contemplating that thought Usagi felt like smacking herself. The Dark Kingdom had reappeared, she had remembered two years early and her past mother had basically told her the Senshi were going to fight the Dark Kingdom. Of _course_ they were all going to gather, the pull of their shared destiny was enough to subconsciously draw them all together. The fact that it happened to be the Juuban District was probably a byproduct of her being the princess and this was where she lived.

As the afternoon wore on the festival petered out leaving the group of five happy and contented with a day well spent in the company of friends.

Naru and Umino left together, Naru almost dragging Umino behind her as he still rattled on about the flowers around them. Usagi waved happily and gave her friend a little wink. Naru blushed and realized that Usagi had figured out her crush, then she laughed and waved back and was gone around a corner, Umino with her.

* * *

 

The smile fell from Usagi’s face as she turned to look at Ami and Mamoru.

“We need to decide how we’re going to do this,” Usagi said without preamble.

“Do you know if she’s been getting your dreams?” Ami asked, hand on her chin, thinking hard.

Usagi nodded, her pigtails bobbing a little, “It took enough conscious effort to get through her mental shields that I’m sure she got them.”

“It might be best if you spoke with her,” Mamoru said, then added, “She might not take it well coming from me, Ami might be a good choice, but you’ve been the one sending her the dreams after all, you know what their content is better than anyone.”

Ami and Usagi looked at each other and then Usagi nodded, “Okay, do you think tomorrow after school would be a good idea?”

Mamoru nodded and Ami said, “I’ll get a map of where her shrine is for you,” as she pulled her computer out of her bag and began searching. Usagi smiled at Mamoru over Ami’s head as the bluenette busied herself with the little computer. After a few moments of searching Ami looked up, “It’s at the six way crossroads across town, do you know where that is?”

Usagi nodded, “I’ve been there before.”

“Apparently it’s a rather old and prestigious shrine, they make a good business selling good luck amulets,” Ami said with a few more taps of the keys.

Shrugging, Usagi said, “I’ve passed by the shrine, but never gone in.”

“As long as you know where it is,” Mamoru said with a shrug. Usagi nodded and Mamoru continued, “I hate to run girls but I have to be ready for class tomorrow.”

With a small smile Usagi said, “Not a problem, I’ll let you know how tomorrow afternoon goes.”

Mamoru nodded and zipped his riding jacket up, then put his helmet on, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow then,” he said, voice slightly muffled by the helmet.

Ami gave a little wave and Usagi nodded, smile still on her face.

As Mamoru walked away, Usagi asked, “Would you like to come over for dinner?”

Giving a little shake of her head Ami closed her computer and put it away in her bag, “My mother actually has the night off tonight so we were planning to go out.”

Usagi nodded understandingly, she knew at this point that Ami cherished what time she had with her mother.

With that decided, they took their leave of one another, Ami heading to meet her mother for dinner and Usagi to join her family for dinner before discussing the day with Luna before turning in for the night, one again sending out dreams to the Senshi she still needed to find before letting herself sleep.


	9. Lighting Embers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here come's Rei.
> 
> Also, awkward conversations are awkward. Knowing someone and yet not knowing them can be a difficult position to be in.

Usagi managed to be up early enough on Monday morning to catch her father reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. The headline was in huge print saying that a series of busses had disappeared at the crossroads by a shrine. The picture showed the intersection of six roads at the base of the steps of a shrine.

After her father was finished with the paper Usagi skimmed it quickly, reading about the buses that kept disappearing at the crossroads. The total was up to five busses. Usagi knew that something had to be done. She was already heading to the area to talk to Mars (she could not wait to find out the girls actual name) so she figured she would also figure out what was up with those busses while she was at it. It stank of something the Dark Kingdom would do. Probably taking the energy of those poor people to use to strengthen themselves.

With a disgusted face Usagi put down the paper and quickly finished her breakfast and raced out the door to school.

On the way to school she pondered how quickly things were happening. It was all going so fast she hoped that things would slow down soon and let her have some time to think.

Throughout the day, up to the final bell, Usagi was lost in thought. Partially pondering how fast things were going and partially thinking about how she would approach the priestess who she could guess would have the same fiery temper as her past self. When the school bell rang she resigned herself to the fact that things were going to happen how they happened, and she could only hope for the best.

* * *

Usagi climbed the stairs to the Hikawa Shrine that afternoon. The disappearing busses fresh on her mind and the intersection at the base of the Shrine steps radiated an aura that greatly disturbed her and made Usagi feel uneasy as she passed through the area.

As she reached the top she could see various people milling about at the top. Most of them were older people obviously there to say prayers. Some, though, were school girls there looking to buy good luck charms for love or grades. What drew Usagi's attention though were the two crows cawing over a building toward the back of the shrine.

Usagi followed their calls and the psychic intuition she was again growing accustomed to having, and let it lead her back toward the more private areas of the temple. As she drew closer to the building where crows were, they took flight and circled above her. Something tickled the back of her mind and she looked up at the crows. An image came to her mind of the Temple on Mars where Princess Hestia IX had been the head priestess and of the two guardians from the planet Coronis who had sworn themselves to served the Martian royalty.

"Phobos, Deimos!" She called making the crows dive toward her. Usagi was glad to see that these two had been reborn as well as Mars. They landed on her outstretched arms, "It's so good to see you!" She continued excitedly.

_It is good to see you as well, Princess,_ Phobos said in her mind. They never attained the ability of spoken speech, like the Lunar Cats, in their animal forms, but could be understood by those with the telepathic ability to hear them.

_Have you come to visit the priestess?_ Deimos asked, her head tilted to the side.

"Yes," Usagi said, "I would like to see her, you know who she is and I fear I must call on her again," she added soberly.

Phobos nodded, _We sensed the time was near,_ the crow said, sounding a bit sad that their mistress would have to fight once again.

_We had hoped the time would never come,_ Deimos added, sounding equally sad.

"I am truly sorry," Usagi said, her expression sad as she nodded her head toward the crows on her arms.

Before their conversation could continue however, the side of the building slid open to reveal a young woman, garbed in traditional Shinto priestess clothing with flowing long black hair that fell loosely down to her knees. She looked surprised to see Usagi there, but her violet eyes went wide when her gaze fell on the crows.

Usagi, not wanting to annoy the priestess flexed the muscles in her forearms where the crows were sitting. They took the hint and took to the air, circling above her for a moment before settling on the roof of the building the other young woman was standing in the door of.

"Hello," Usagi said with a low bow to show respect, "I am Tsukino, Usagi, I was hoping I could speak with you," She continued before straightening and looking the priestess over. Her aura screamed 'Sailor Mars' to Usagi's senses as she knew the aura well from her days in the Millennium. Usagi however knew that the young woman before her would not be able to tell her own identity having disguised her aura as that of a normal humans before entering the shrine grounds. When it came to a contest of psychic powers, Mars and Moon were often equally matched in the past and Usagi did not want to test the modern Mars without her knowing what was going on.

The priestess regally inclined her head at the greeting, "I am Hino, Rei," She said mildly. "I don't not know why you would wish to speak with me though; many others have come to me trying to get me to help them fine their missing family members due to those busses. I hope for your sake that you are not here for that." There was steel in her voice at the end and it was easy to see that she was not happy with the situation.

Usagi shook her head, "No, I do not have any missing family though I have some bad feelings about those busses. I am here to speak to you about you. You are the priestess of the Sacred Fire correct? You have Phobos and Deimos by your side and it is your help I seek," Usagi said, keeping to a more formal way of speaking, knowing that if she just blurted out what she had to say she would probably confuse Rei, either that or send her into shock, neither of which was a preferred outcome of the situation.

Rei narrowed her eyes and the blonde before her. There was something odd about the girl before her, she looked familiar but something seemed off, almost as if she was not who she appeared to be. To Rei's senses the girl seemed normal enough but there was a hidden sense of power around the girl and a slight blurring of her features to Rei's inner eye. Almost as if the face she showed the world was not her real one.

The fact that the girl knew the names of her crows was something she had never encountered before since she had moved into the shrine with her grandfather as a young girl. The crows were at the shrine when she had arrived at the age of five, over a decade ago at this point, and she had instinctively known their names. She could understand them some of the time but apparently this girl had more of a gift then Rei herself when it came to mental abilities.

Deciding to play it civil because there was nothing evil about the other girl Rei and, "And why would you want to speak with me?"

"You are special, priestess," Usagi said, sticking to the formality even though she now had Rei's name, she really didn’t want to try Rei’s temper. "You have hidden powers that I can help you access. You are needed to help fight the evil now rising in the world as you are the holder of the Flames of Mars."

Rei looked startled at the words from Usagi, then she looked suspicious before her features settled into an expression of mild curiosity, "Oh?" She said as mild as her expression, "I already thought I was special, and I have never heard the Sacred Fire be connected to Mars."

"You would be surprised what I know," Usagi said just as mildly. "If you are available tomorrow afternoon I would like to meet with you and if you do not mind I would like to bring some friends with me as well. Friends that know what I know and will not share anything against your wishes."

Rei really looked at the young woman in front of her. The more she talked the more she wanted know the person in front of her. She studied the young woman in front of her again and in her minds eye received a sudden flash of an image. It was the same girl before her but it wasn't. It was like the young woman before her was suddenly overlaid with the image of a similar looking girl in a long white gown with silver hair. The image matched the dreams she had been having and it gave her a little jolt of excitement to think she might understand their foggy message.

Usagi waited as Rei thought about her words. She knew that the Senshi of Mars had received the dreams she had sent. Usagi had sent them consciously and thus could judge the reactions of the person on the receiving end. It had actually taken her a bit of effort to worm her way through Rei's mental shields to be able to give her the dream in the first place. Knowing that it would help get Rei to the meeting she wanted to hold with her, Ami, and Mamoru, she loosed a bit of her hold on her aura and smiled mentally when she saw Rei's eyes go wide as she cause a glimpse of what was hidden within the school girl in the courtyard.

After a few more moments of silence, Rei nodded her head, "I will come and meet you. Where would you like us to meet?"

"I was hoping the Juuban park would not be too far a distance for you to travel," Usagi said.

Rei nodded, "It is not far from my school, I can be there. Do you have a time?"

"I was hoping four would be good," Usagi replied, silently cheering that the priestess was willing to speak to them.

Rei nodded once again, "I will see you then.” Usagi nodded in reply and went to turn to leave. "Wait," Rei said suddenly making Usagi turn back toward the Priestess, pigtails swinging. "Do you know about a woman in a long gown with silver hair?" Rei asked, and looked abashed as soon as she seemed to realize what she had said.

"Yes, yes I do," said Usagi, glad Rei was not freaking out, though for all she knew, internally she was freaking out, but was also pleasantly surprised that the priestess would open up like that with her so soon.

"Can you tell me?" Rei asked, with the smallest hint of pleading and longing in her voice. Rei knew that the woman in her dreams was important and the fact that she had just seen that person overlay the one in front of her had her curiosity piqued to maximum. She was not going to say that out loud though, despite how much she sensed from the young woman before her.

"Not now," Usagi said, sounding a bit sad to Rei's ears, "But don't worry," She continued brightly, "If you are there tomorrow all your questions will be answered."

Rei looked suspicious at Usagi's words but nodded her head, "I will see you tomorrow then," The priestess said before disappearing back into the shrine.

With a jovial wave to Phobos and Deimos, who were still sitting on the roof of the building, Usagi turned and skipped her way back to the stairs leading back down to the road that went next to the shrine, very very glad she hadn’t gotten into an arguemtn with Rei. Maybe being polite actually worked?

As soon as she hit the pavement beyond the shrine she pulled out her phone and called Ami, then after she explained to Ami the situation, she called Mamoru and explained as well. They would all be there to meet Rei the following afternoon. With that Usagi headed home, unless something happened that night, they were all content to spend the evening in peace, getting done anything that had piled up in the past couple of days.

* * *

Rei tracked the girl's aura until she was no longer on the shrine grounds. She was leaning just inside the door to the building she had entered. She stared at the ground, as if the wood grain could give her the answers she sought. Once Rei knew she was gone she opened the door once again and stepped out onto the small porch there. She slipped on her sandals and walked out into the courtyard. Phobos and Deimos immediately took flight and landed on her outstretched arms like they had with Usagi.

Rei smiled at the crows, "You two seem to like her," she said in a much kinder tone than she had spoken with before. "I just wish I knew what this was all about."

Deimos rubbed her beak against Rei's cheek, and Rei got the impression that the crows thought she should trust the girl. That surprised Rei due to the fact that her crows rarely liked people other than her and her grandfather.

_Trust your heart,_ came a thought across her mind. Though she could at times hear what they were saying for them to speak directly and to tell her something so different from their usual negative impressions of people was shocking. Though she trusted her friends she was still unsure, there was something about that young woman, something that gave her a familiar feeling in the back of her mind, but she could not for the life of her place as to why she felt that way.

"I will meditate on this," she said out loud finally. "I will consult the fire and seek it's guidance in this matter."

Phobos and Deimos took flight from her arms, circling upward fast and wild, cawing out their reassurances. Rei smiled up at them, despite her inner turmoil.

Instead of returning to the building she had exited from, Rei made her way across the courtyard and entered another building, larger than the other one. Stopping on the small porch Rei removed her sandals and bowed slightly before entering the building. She knelt on the cushion provided in the outer chamber and bowed, deeper this time and stopped to meditate to prepare herself for communing with the sacred fire.

After praying for a few moments, Rei stood once again and entered the room of the sacred fire. She took a seat on the only cushion in the room, in front of the fire that burned in that inner room. Moving her hands in the long memorized and at this point almost subconscious motions, she called upon the Sacred Fire.

_Please give me the guidance I seek,_ Rei plead silently, _There is something with this girl, please, I must know if I can trust her._

Before Rei could process what was happening, the fire flared, wilder than she had ever seen it before and then images flooded her mind. The new vigilante, as the news was calling Sailor Moon, filled her vision, with her was another girl, wearing an all blue uniform and a man in a black formal outfit. The three were fighting a man that looked familiar to Rei but she couldn’t for the life of her think of how she would recognize him. Then the scene shifted and there was a cat with the group, and the second man they were fighting was gone. The cat was obviously talking to the group, but Rei could not hear the words exchanged. Suddenly Sailor Moon seemed to sense that they were being watched and looked up, looking straight at Rei.

_“Will you join us, Sailor Mars guarded by the planet of fire?”_ Rei heard the young woman ask, her voice sounding beautiful in the silence that encompassed them.

_What are you asking of me?_ Rei though as she watched the vision play out, rarely did she get impressions this strong. _Why are you calling me Sailor Mars?_ Suddenly a red pen with the astrological symbol of the planet Mars was floating before her eyes, so real that Rei actually began to reach for it. But it disappeared as the fire stopped its roaring and dropped back down to its previous state.

_When you see that pen take it and become who you were born to be,_ came a whispering voice across Rei’s mind. She could not tell where the voice had come from. It did not sound like Phobos or Deimos, their mental voiced had a distinct feminine quality to them, but at the same time they were very real and very solid feeling. No, this voice, while having feminine qualities seemed ages old and all knowing.

Finally Rei was able to stagger to her feet, almost as if she had been released from bonds holding her form still and on the cushion before the fire. Her training took over in the fact that she did not rush from the room directly, but bowed and said the appropriate mantra’s before leaving the fire’s sanctuary and searching out her ojii-san. She wanted to discuss the vision with him.

The two spoke for many hours after the last guest left the shrine. Though her ojii-san could shed no more light on the vision than Rei herself could. Only that it was probably incredibly important. Rei also told him about the words she had heard. Her ojii-san was at first startled by this, most visions carried no sound, but could offer nothing more.

As Rei retired to bed that night she felt that something was on the horizon, something larger than her but that she was a part of and would always be a part of, something that felt incredibly old and new to her at the same time.

Rei dreamt that night, the same dream she’d been having for a week at that point.  Of a white castle with pastel gardens, wearing a red and white uniform sometimes and other times a long flowing red dress, of four other girls, her friends, of spending time with them and then of fighting beside them, each falling in turn until there was no one left.


	10. Fire Growing - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello there Rei!
> 
> Chapter has been split into 3 parts to avoid having a chapter that's almost 12k, so chapter 10 is now going to be posted in pieces but can be seen as all the same chapter if you so wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where things are going to start getting REALLY au. I have a lot of headcanons that I'm going to be working into this if you haven't already noticed.
> 
> Also, I’m a sucker for the Senshi/Shittenou pairing. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but I’m totally all for it. Granted, I don’t ship it ALL the time and I can totally see the inner’s pairing up with each other as well (Save Usagi cause she has her Mamo-chan), but for this story, I made the decision to go for the Senshi/Shittenou - but it won't be like super in your face... I hope. *sheepish grin*
> 
> I understand if you don’t want to read the story beyond this point and I respect your choice to do so. 
> 
> I know this can be a tough subject among Moonies, but I’m hoping that by giving you fair warning ahead of time I won’t get too much hate over it.

Usagi woke the next morning with the feeling that things were moving fast, incredibly fast, and she wasn’t sure she liked it. In fact, upon considering, she _knew_ she didn’t like it. Everything was happening in a rush. It was like she was speeding towards a cliff and couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Her dreams had been troubled that night. Images jumbled together from both her lives had caused her dreams to be a confusing mish-mash of images. She had not visited Queen Serenity in her dreams since they had all had the night of training after Ami had remembered. She almost wished she would, she felt like she could use the advice. However, she knew that her mother would only call them there in their sleep when they woke the next Senshi. Usagi had no idea how to get there on her own while she slept, and the only way to get there awake was to teleport herself to the moon, but with the distance it would be difficult.

Going through her morning routine she didn’t talk much, only grumbling under her breath at her even longer hair, and deciding she finally needed it, cast a simple illusion spell on her hair that would make it look its normal blonde to the average person. Usagi was particularly fond of this illusion. The only problem she could think of was that she’d have to reapply it after she de-transformed from Sailor Moon because the transformation magic would negate the illusion spell. Not much of an issue really, and other than that, it wouldn’t fall unless something drastic happened, like her magic being drained completely.

Luna was busy at her minicomputer as Usagi left. She knew the cat would be around later and she did not want to be late for class again. Now that she got into less trouble because she was on time more, she found she liked it and was making an effort to be on time.

Leaving Luna in her room, Usagi went downstairs and grabbed a muffin from the table, “Oka-san, I’m going to the park later with some friends, do we have an old blanket I could borrow?” She asked right before she dug into her muffing.

“I think I have an old blanket your father and I used to use on picnics,” Ikuko said with a soft smile. “I’ll see if I can find it by the time you get home,” she added.

“Thanks Oka-san!” Usagi said and gave her mother a quick hug. Grabbing her bag she put her shoes on and was out the door in a flash.

She didn’t run into Mamoru on the way to school that morning. It had actually been happening less now that they knew each other and for that Usagi was grateful. She wasn’t particularly fond of running into people on her way to school. One reason she thought she was so good at dodging enemy attacks was because she wound her way through people at high speed every morning on her way to class.

Naru and Umino were waiting with Ami as Usagi barreled through the school gate. Coming to a stop she tried to catch her breath while Ami and Naru giggled at her and Umino pretended he didn’t care by adjusting his glasses.

“A whole five minutes this morning!” Naru said happily as Usagi righted herself.

“Maybe I should try for ten?” Usagi asked jokingly in reply.

“I wouldn’t push it,” Ami said, trying to be serious, but it failed miserably because she couldn’t contain her giggles.

“I’m always here a half hour early,” Umino said.

“No you’re not,” Naru said, giving Umino a smack on the head, “You get here with me you dolt and I’m never here that early.”

Umino did not say anything but he did blush.

“C’mon,” Naru said, “Might as well head to class.” And with that they joined the crowd headed into their school building, winding their way through the hallways until they made it to their classroom.

Umino insisted on talking about a mathematics book he had read recently and Naru feigned interest.

“Ready for this afternoon?” Usagi asked Ami quietly seeing as Naru and Umino were distracted.

Ami shrugged and replied just as quietly, “I’m not sure. Though I’ll admit I’m a little nervous about meeting her.”

Usagi giggled, “Let’s just hope that she lost a bit of her temper,” she said. “I didn’t test her yesterday but who knows.”

“I hope so,” Ami replied as their teacher walked into the room. Conversation was done after that.

Usagi spent the rest of the day fretting over how things were going to go that afternoon and dreading having to bring Mars’ memories of the past to the forefront.

* * *

 

After school, Usagi and Ami (after a quick pit stop at Usagi’s house) made their way toward the Juuban Central Park where Usagi had asked Rei to meet them. Little did either of them know what had taken place at the Hikawa Shrine after Usagi had left the day before.

Ami was excited to meet Mars again even if she didn’t know it yet. To occupy her time she pulled out her Mercury Computer and began working on their changing genetic structure. The problem had been bothering her since she had encountered it the previous week. She could tell that they were changing and it seemed like the longer their powers were awake the faster they changed. It was an exponential acceleration of the combination of Human and Lunarian. In Usagi at least, the Lunarian was completely overwriting the Human. By Ami’s calculations, if things continued as they were, none of them would be Human anymore, by the modern definition at least, by the end of the year. She was also still studying Mamoru’s changes. His ancient Human DNA plus contact with the Ginzuisho meant that he was as good as Lunarian. How the changes would all turnout was quite the puzzle that Ami was spending most of her free time trying to figure out.

The two of them only had to wait a few minutes for Mamoru to arrive from the opposite direction. They all greeted each other warmly. The festival they had attended had done wonders for getting to know each other, and the all now felt way more comfortable around each other than they had originally.

Usagi felt her face flush as Mamoru draped an arm around her shoulders and gave them a small squeeze. Shyly she put her own arm around his waist and returned the squeeze, which caused a small blush on his face.

“Still working on our apparent transformation into our past selves?” Mamoru asked trying to distract himself while they waited for Rei.

Ami nodded and said, “It appears to be an exponential change, brought about partially from residual power from the Ginzuisho within our souls, particularly due to our own powers which the human genome can’t handle and at least partially due to Queen Serenity’s spell that sent us all here in the first place,” all without looking up from the tiny super computer in her hand.

Mamoru blinked in surprise, not expecting such a long winded response. Usagi laughed at the look on his face. “Laugh it up Odango,” He said, “She’ll get you soon enough.” Usagi pouted slightly at this even though she knew it was true. And now it was Mamoru’s turn to laugh at the explosion on Usagi’s face. Usagi couldn’t keep a straight face though and soon enough she was giggling along with Mamoru. Ami just looked over the top of computer at the two and rolled her eyes slightly. In her mind they were starting to get just as bad as they had been before, not that she really minded but she felt a pang in her own heart for Zoicite.

Usagi stopped laughing when she felt her friends aura change, and judging by the dark cloud about her friend she knew exactly what she was thinking about. Taking the few steps over to her friend, Usagi wrapped an arm around Ami’s shoulders and gave her a sideways hug.

“Don’t worry,” Usagi said gently, “We’ll get him back. We’ll get them all back.”

Ami tried to smile at her friend. It still seemed so hopeless to her. From what she’d seen of Jadeite, they were pretty thoroughly brainwashed and only the Ginzuisho had the power to bring them back to the side of Light. And right now there were only three of them in this fight. Hopefully four after today, but that was precious few compared to the forces of the Dark Kingdom.

Just then Rei walked around the corner. She was wearing her school uniform, which showed that she attended a prominent missionary High School. Her dark red plaid skirt and grey top with dark red collar were a stark contrast to Mamoru’s black uniform and the girls sailor outfits with their navy blue skirts and white tops. She stopped short though at the scene before her. She recognized the blonde as the girl from the previous afternoon but the other two were strangers. What really caught the Priestesses attention though was the fading aura of sadness around the blue-haired girl that Usagi had her arm around. She wondered at that but didn’t say anything as Usagi finally spotted her.

“Hi!” Usagi said, her face doing a complete turnaround from the concerned expression she had before. Now she seemed to bubble with energy.

Rei found herself smiling at the blonde’s energy, despite the scene she had walked in on, “Hello,” she replied with a nod of the head to the two people she didn’t know.

“Hino, Rei,” Usagi said as she gestured to her two friends, “May I introduce Mizuno, Ami and Chiba, Mamoru?”

“Hello,” Rei said again, returning Ami’s bow before she shook the hand that Mamoru offered, receiving a little jolt when their aura’s met. Rei didn’t let on that she felt anything, but she could tell that Mamoru felt it as well. She was surprised at that. She rarely met other’s that shared her gift.

“Would you like to find someplace to sit?” Ami asked, gesturing to the park entrance.

“I brought a blanket!” Usagi said animatedly holding out a bag she’d brought with her, “Just in case we can’t find a table,” she added sensibly. Ami giggled at her friends antics, Mamoru smiled indulgently and even Rei smiled a little at the blonde’s antics.

“That’s fine by me,” Rei said and the four of them walked into the park.

Usagi placed herself to Rei’s left, Ami to her right. Mamoru walked on Usagi’s left and they walked abreast as the strolled the paths looking for a place to sit. Unfortunately for them it appeared that none of the tables were available for a group of four to sit. Finally they all agreed on a shady area beneath a grove of tree’s a little ways off the path and Usagi spread the blanket out she had brought, then they all took a seat.

Rei seemed unwilling to start the conversation they were bound to have. Usagi could understand that. She would be as well, especially since the three people she was with were virtual strangers.

Usagi could tell that Mamoru was going to say something when Rei visibly set her shoulders in a determined manner and said, “I had a vision after you left yesterday.”

“A vision?” Ami asked curiously. Usagi had told Ami and Mamoru what she had seen and gathered and felt at the shrine when she had called them and they knew that she was a Shinto priestess from two days previous when they had first seen her at the flower festival.

“Yes,” Rei said, her voice a little stronger now.

“What was it?” Usagi asked and Rei was surprised to see the intent look on the blonde’s face, though she didn’t know why.

Rei seemed to steady herself again before telling them of the vision she had had. Of the voice that had spoken to her and the images she had seen in the fire, and then the dream she had had that night. After she finished her tale she added, “I spoke with my ojii-san about this and we couldn’t figure it out.”

Usagi, Mamoru, and Ami exchanged a look. Mamoru and Ami then glanced at each other before they turned to Usagi and nodded their agreement to her silent question. Taking a deep breath, not sure how the priestess would take the news Usagi said, “I am not surprised you and your ojii-san were not able to understand your vision. The events it relates to happened more than a hundred thousand years ago. The events that were in your vision are current however.”

Rei looked shocked, “How do you know? Does it have anything to do with the way your aura’s are different?”

Mamoru took this question, “It does, you felt the change in power when our aura’s interacted earlier. We, and you, have powers and abilities that normal humans don’t have, and in fact may not ever have.”

“What do you mean, normal humans?” Rei asked warily, steel in her voice.

Usagi looked at Ami and Mamoru and then fielded the question herself. “We, the three of us are not normal. Technically, Ami-chan and I aren’t even fully human, and neither are you,” Usagi said, going for the direct approach, going on the feeling that Rei would not appreciate a roundabout response.

Rei looked very skeptical and neither Mamoru nor Ami could blame her. If they did not have their powers or their memories, they would not have believed what Usagi was saying either. In fact, Mamoru knew he had only opened up to Usagi because he was drawn to the familiar feeling he had had around her. Add the fact that she showed him kindness and understanding despite the way he acted, and that she showed an understanding of what he was going through, it all led up to him trusting her before he even had his memories back.

Ami had her own reasons for believing Usagi. Said (almost former) blonde had befriended her when her intellect had ostracized her before, even at her previous school where there was an abundance of intelligent people. There was a warm feeling when she had thought about Usagi. That girl had opened up to her like no one else had, befriending her without question or alternative reason. And then, she had saved Ami’s life, twice, and still asked nothing in return. Oh, Ami knew that she owed her princess her loyalty and she would lay down her life for her princess, as she had done once before, a hundred thousand years ago. But today, in this modern world, she was also able to be a normal girl, to have friends and go to school, and having Usagi accept her as a friend, and as a Senshi went a long way to healing some old emotional hurts.

There was a few moments of silence as Rei digested what they had said, never losing her skeptical look. Finally she asked, “What does this have to do with my vision?”

Usagi may not have been sure where the vision had come from, though she had her suspicions, and they fit with the dreams that Usagi had been sending Rei. “Your vision is linked with the dreams you have been having,” Usagi replied.

That brought Rei up short, “How do you know about those?” she asked, her voice lower and with a stronger feeling of steel in it and Usagi knew she had to be careful.

Still feeling it was better to tell Rei the truth, rather than hide things, she thought carefully about what she was saying before she replied. “I, as the leader of the Sailor Senshi have been sending those who have not yet recovered their powers, dreams, in order to awaken their powers and call them here in order to fight an ancient evil that was once thought locked away but has been released.”

“You?!” Rei asked almost reflexively from surprise. Usagi waited her out and Mamoru and Ami knew enough to stay silent, letting Usagi handle it. After a few deep breaths, Rei asked, “How in the world could you send _dreams?_ ”

“They’re easy enough to send with a bit of telepathy, though I must say your mental shields are rather impressive,” Usagi replied, “It took me two nights just to figure out how to send you those dreams.”

“I’m not sure whether that should be a compliment or not,” Rei said, a little more warmth in her voice, though there was still that undercurrent of steel.

“Trust me, it’s a compliment,” Mamoru said with a small smile. Rei nodded slightly, and decided to accept it as such.

“Now, do you want to know _why_ I sent you those dreams?” Usagi asked after a moment.

Rei nodded, “You mentioned something about the Senshi, are they those people that have been showing up on the news? And what do I have to do with them?” she asked.

“They are,” Ami said with a nod, “And we are them,” she added.

“No way,” Rei breathed.

“Way,” Usagi replied, trying not to giggle at Rei’s expression. “We have power and abilities that we can access, given to us in our previous lives that allows us to protect this planet and the people of Earth. We failed in our duties once, long ago, and this evil sent humanity back to the stone age, having to rebuild, the evil destroyed our kingdoms and killed our people, and now it is back and it is our responsibility to fight it. We are the only ones who can.”

“And so can you,” Mamoru said.

“I don’t have any special powers,” Rei said defensively, “I can only read the fire and sense people.”

Usagi smiled, but it was not a happy smile, more like a smile of triumph, “And those powers can be expanded and more learned, have you ever wanted to call the fire, bend it to your will? If you let me free your memories you can,” she said.

Rei opened her mouth and then shut it. She knew this girl was, deep down, a good person. She had sensed it the day before at her shrine. But all of this talk of evil and protecting the world seemed like too much. But that image from yesterday - that of the silver haired girl with blue eyes in a silver/white dress had stayed with her. Always on the edge of her mind, reminding her that her dreams were real and now she knew that they had been sent, though she still could not understand why. Finally she made up her mind. Sitting up straight, hands primly on her knees, she looked Usagi dead in the eye and said, with confidence she didn’t feel, “Prove it.”

Usagi smiled a true smile this time and held out her hand. “I can, if you give me your hand.”

Rei hesitated for a moment. She sensed no deception but she did not want to admit she was scared. She had the feeling that everything would change as soon as she took Usagi’s hand. She looked over at Mamoru and Ami, she did not know them well, but their aura’s showed no lie in what they were saying. Both of them gave her a little nod of encouragement. Taking a deep breath, she took the offered hand.

Nothing happened for a moment as Usagi’s other hand came to rest on top of Rei’s and she shut her eyes. Then Rei kind of gave an involuntary shudder and her eyes went blank as she stared at something that was not there. Usagi on the other hand, had a frown on her face, eyes shut tightly in concentration as she worked to bring Rei’s memories of the past to the forefront of her mind. Removing the block on them that had been placed there when she had been born into this time and place.

Ami gave Mamoru a worried look, he smiled back at her reassuringly though, “Don’t worry,” he said quietly so as not to disturb Usagi, “You had the same look on your face when she brought your memories back.”

Ami looked thoughtful then asked, “What about you?” just as quietly.

Mamoru shook his head, “The Earth returned my memories,” he near-whispered. “Usagi sensed the power growing around us and told me what to do.”

Ami nodded then turned back to Usagi. The bluenette could see the stress the blonde was under, doing this mental task. Mamoru and Ami were silent after that, though they did not have to wait long for Usagi to return to them.

Slowly Usagi let go of Rei’s hand and sat back a little. Rei’s memories were even more filled with emotion than Ami’s had been. The black haired girl sitting next to her had not gone quietly in the end, after she watched Serenity kill herself she had fought Jadeite to the end until he had run her through with his sword. Her dying words had been telling him that she still loved him. He had spat in her face. The emotion attached to those memories had been draining.

It took Rei a few moments longer to return to herself. Blinking in confusion at the memories she was now experiencing. She looked at each of them in confusion for a moment, past and present overlapping making it hard to distinguish her current reality.

Usagi let Rei take her time. She had been just as disoriented in the beginning and she knew that Mamoru and Ami had been as well. That moment of not knowing who you are, where you are, or even when it is, could be very disconcerting.

Rei finally seemed to come back to herself and looked them all over, as if seeing them for the first time, turning to each of them in turn she addressed them by their old names, “Hermione? Endymion? _Serenity?_ ” She asked, her voice breaking as she got to Usagi.

Usagi nodded, “It’s me,” she said.

For the first time, in either life, that Usagi knew of, Mars started crying with deep hurt sobs, burying her face in her hands, her black hair falling in thick strands around her face. Usagi and Ami exchanged a confused glance, before they both moved to sit closer to the crying girl.

“It’s alright,” Usagi said soothingly as she wrapped an arm around Rei’s shoulders.

“We’re here now,” Ami said, laying what she hoped was comforting hand on Rei’s knee.

“Why?” Rei sobbed, and Usagi knew that there were a few ways to answer that question.

“Here,” Mamoru said, handing Rei his handkerchief as Usagi thought about her response.

Rei accepted the handkerchief and wiped her streaming eyes.

Usagi waited for Rei to calm down at least a little bit before she asked, “Which why? Because there are a few of them.”

Rei chuckled wetly through her tears, “None of them, all of them,” she said, her voice rough. “Why did you kill yourself, why did Jadite kill me, why is Mettalia back, why is all of this happening again. All of it.”

Usagi sighed. Those were all loaded answers, “I think you know the why for at least one of them, he was brainwashed, being controlled by a dark power. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

Rei nodded, “It still hurts though,” she said with a sniffle.

“I know,” Ami said, compassionately. “I miss Zoicite.”

Usagi struggle to keep the frown off her face. She hadn’t heard Ami say it out loud before now, but she knew that her friend missed him. They had become very close in the days before the Millennium had fallen and she knew that his brainwashing had bothered Ami greatly. She also felt bad about having found Mamoru so quickly. All of her friends were missing their other halves, and yet she had hers there with her, doing his best to protect her, like he had way back then.

“But why the rest of it?” Rei asked, finally looking up. Mamoru’s handkerchief was gripped tightly between her hands and she sat stiffly in her lap. Usagi could tell that she was not used to crying like that.

Usagi bit back another sigh. It would not do them any good for her to dwell on what could have been. “Mettalia is evil,” She said. “Pure evil, she knows only darkness, death and misery,” she explained. “As for the other things…,” Usagi trailed off and looked away, clenching her hands into fists. Mamoru reached over and laid his hand on hers, she looked up at him and he looked back with understanding. “I killed myself back then because I went insane from the grief and the breaking of the bond between Endymion and myself,” she said, looking back at Rei, “I did not know what to do, it seemed like my only option.” Rei looked away at that point but looked back when she heard what Usagi said next, “And by Selene, I won’t let it happen again.” Usagi sat a little straighter, “Mother did not send us all here and give us a chance at life again, at the cost of her own for me to throw it away. I refuse to make the same mistake twice. I am not as frail as I was then and I will fight, as you will, to protect our new home,” she stated.

“What did she do?” Rei asked quietly.

Usagi knew that she could only refer to her past mother. Usagi smiled a small, but pleasant smile before saying, “Queen Serenity, to end the battle with Mettalia, sealed her away. She did not have the power to completely destroy Mettalia, though she thought her seal would be enough. When Mettalia was sealed she gather all of her power, and sent all of us, who we were then, our memories, our personalities, our very being, forward to now, here on Earth, so that we could have the chance to live the lives we should have had. But doing so cost her her life. Her spirit is still there among the ruins of the palace.” Here Usagi paused for breath. She still was not used to talking this much, but she felt that she had to tell Rei, and all of the scouts, this right up front, so that they could understand. Usagi continued, “As for why those busses are going missing near your Shrine, and why the Senshi are needed again… Mettalia has escaped. She has once again brainwashed the Shittenou and it is our responsibility to put it right again.”

“She has them again?” Rei asked quietly, her voice strained.

Usagi nodded sadly, “I didn’t know until after I had regained my memories. We might never have remembered our former lives if Mettalia hadn’t escaped. From what I can tell, she also has Beryl acting for her again.”

Usagi watched as Mamoru’s face hardened at the mention of Beryl. He had had many encounters with her in his previous life. None of them particularly pleasant from what she remembered from her few run ins with the woman herself. Beryl had been jealous. Related to the Earth royalty at the time, she had set her eyes on Endymion, but he had never shown any interest in her but she refused to admit that.

Rei and the rest of them mulled over the conversation topic for a few minutes. Many things were now clicking into place for Rei as she looked back on her current life. Things that she had thought odd always seemed to happen to her, but now she realized that her connection with Phobos and Deimos for example was because of her past. There had been two crows with the same names at her families shrine on Mars and Rei wondered if they weren’t the same crows reborn. She thought that maybe she could actually talk to them now like she used to back then. It had always been a little frustrating to try and guess about what knowledge they were trying to pass onto her in this life. Ever since she had come to her oji-san’s shrine as a young girl she had been immediately drawn to those two crows specifically, of all the ones that hung around because her oji-san insisted on feeding them. Eventually she had been drawn to life as a priestess, though her oji-san had told her that she didn’t have to be one if she didn’t want to be. Something about it felt right, and it had always surprised her that her ofuda had always seemed to actually work instead of the other’s that didn’t from other priests that would visit their shrine. Now she knew why. As she thought, more and more things like that fell into place.

By now though, it was starting to get dark, the lights not having come on yet in the park. “We should probably get home soon,” Usagi said, standing, breaking the amicable silence they had fallen into.

“It is getting late,” Ami said worriedly as she looked at her watch. “My oka-san is going to be home soon and we were planning on dinner.”

Mamoru nodded and stood as well. Rei also stood and handed Mamoru back his handkerchief but she was looking at Usagi oddly. “Yes, Rei-chan?” Usagi asked with a smile when she saw the look on the other girls face.

Rei was startled by the addition of the suffix to her name, but let it pass. She seemed thought for a moment and then she bowed to Usagi, “I would like to pledge myself again to you, Princess,” she said.

Usagi put her hand on Rei’s shoulder and pushed her into a standing position, “You swore your fealty to me once, and that was enough. I want to be your friend now,” she said. “I know you will protect me, as you did. But now I’m also doing the protecting. I have my own Senshi powers. All you need to do is trust in your heart that we will defeat Mettalia and live the lives we should have lived.”

Rei nodded, her eyes suspiciously wet again. Usagi didn’t say anything about it though, and neither did the others as they folded up the blanket Usagi had brought and stuffed it back into the bag.

As they began walking towards the entrance of the park, Usagi said, “We still have to deal with those busses. The intersection reeked of Dark Kingdom energy when I went through it yesterday, so I have a feeling we all know who’s at fault.”

Rei nodded, “I had noticed something strange about that intersection before,” she said, “But I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.”

Ami nodded her agreement as well, “I think there’s some kind of warp there,” she said, “I’ve been trying to analyze it with my computer but no luck. I’m doing better with the youma tracking program I’m trying to write so we know when one will pop up at least.”

“Do you have a cell phone?” Mamoru asked Rei.

Digging in her school bag Rei produced a slightly out of date phone. “The only reason I have it is because oji-san wants me to be able to call the shrine if anything happens to me,” she said. “We’re not big on technology,” she added sheepishly.

“It’s fine,” Usagi said with a smile, “But why don’t we all give you our phone numbers anyways,” she continued, “So that if anything happens we can let you know, or you can get in touch with us.”

Rei smiled at that and rattle off her phone number for the other’s as they reached the edge of the park. She then put each of their numbers in her phone, as they rattled them off for her.

“Would you mind if I came by tomorrow?” Usagi asked right before they all separated.

“I’d like to come too,” Ami said.

“So would I,” added Mamoru.

“I especially want to see what we can do about that intersection,” Usagi added.

Rei smiled shyly, “I don’t often have visitors, but come around back to the family quarters and we’ll see what we can do.”

Usagi smiled widely at that, “Great! We’ll see you tomorrow then!” She said with vigor.

Rei and Ami giggled at Usagi’s energy level and then smiled at each other. It would be good to get to know one another again.

After that they all said their goodbye and headed home. They were all heading in different directions but Mamoru walked with Usagi for a couple of blocks. Before they parted, he gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, blushed heavily and quickly headed towards home, leaving Usagi standing there on the corner for a while before she came to her senses and continued on her way home, a smile on her face.


	11. Fire Growing - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of last chapter (10).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's part 2 of this chapter. As I stated last time, this was so long that I just had to break it up for readability reasons.

Usagi had a lot to think about so she was glad that the walk home gave her time to think. She knew things were happening quickly, she knew that things were probably going to continue to happen quickly, but she wished she knew the why and the how. Obviously the Dark Kingdom was drawn to her area of Japan for some reason. There had been no reports of monster attacks anywhere else on the international news.

Then it hit her and her palm met her face as she tried to hold back laughter at her own stupidity. Of course they were in her area of Japan! They could sense the power of the Senshi, even if they couldn’t pinpoint it and Mettalia would recognize the power signature and want revenge. By now, Usagi assumed that there was nothing on Mettalia’s mind _other_ than revenge against them for locking her up for a hundred thousand years. It only made sense for that thing to keep a grudge like that.

Finally, though, Usagi made it home, just as her oka-san was finishing putting dinner on the table. She kicked off her shoes in the entrance way and made her way to the kitchen.

“Hey oka-san,” she said by way of greeting. “Thanks for the blanket,” she added.

“It wasn’t a problem dear,” Ikuko said, busy with a pot on the stove. “I’m glad you made it home for dinner, would you let your father and brother know it’s ready?” Ikuko asked without turning around.

Usagi smiled, she loved her oka-san the most at times like these, when everything seemed to be going perfectly, “Okay,” she said, “What do you want me to do with the blanket?”

“Did you use it?” Ikuko asked as she began spooning rice into the serving bowl.

“We did,” Usagi answered.

“Then put it with the laundry,” Ikuko said.

Usagi nodded, realized her oka-san couldn’t see her, said, “Alright,” and left the kitchen taking the blanket with her. Her school things were already in her room as she’d stopped by the pick up the blanket before heading to the park. Heading upstairs, she put the blanket with the rest of the household laundry in the tiny hall closet and headed back downstairs.

Kenji was watching the evening news on the television and Shingo was playing with some handheld game, sitting on the floor next to the coffee table.

“Otou-san, Shingo-kun, dinner’s ready,” Usagi said with a smile.

Today had really made her appreciate her family and all that she had gotten in this life. She had a father figure, something she wished she could have during the Millennium, but had never gotten as Queen Serenity had never remarried. She had a sibling, something she didn’t have in the Millennium either, for the same reasons and, though she didn’t hold any of it against her previous mother, she was very glad she had the opportunity to know the love that that could bring in this life.

Neither of them noticed that she was lost in thought as Kenji shut off the television and Shingo reluctantly turned off his game.

“Have a good day, sweetheart?” Kenji asked when he saw the happy look on his daughter’s face.

“She probably got to eat everybody’s lunch at school,” Shingo said as he passed by.

Usagi stuck her tongue out at her brother who replied by pulling down an eyelid. Laughing Usagi turned back to her father, “Mostly,” she replied, still smiling.

“Well, I’m glad you’re in a good mood,” he said and then he ruffle the hair between her buns. She still only came up to his chest, including her buns so it was easy for him to do it. “The world always seems a little brighter when you’re happy,” he said with a smile and then headed for the dining table.

Usagi stood there a moment, surprised, before smiling even wider and heading to the table to join her family for dinner.

Once they were all done eating, Usagi quickly made a small plate up of dinner for Luna from what was in the kitchen while her mom gathered the used dishes in the other room. Making sure it wouldn’t spill, Usagi quickly headed upstairs before they could see the extra plate of food. Usagi had already had four plates of food and she knew her mother would comment if she saw a fifth.

Usagi had noticed that she had been eating more since her memories had returned and wondered if it had something to do with using Senshi powers. She remembered that, back in the Millennium, the girls had always eaten a ton of food, she had never commented on it then, but now she thought that maybe it was because of their powers. It probably took a lot of food to gain the energy to generate their power – for they did generate their own power. If they somehow became drained, they would naturally build it back up again. It made sense too, because on the days when she had had magical instruction back then she had always eaten twice as much at dinner as she normally did and Queen Serenity would only smile and remind her to mind her manners as she attempted to shove food in her mouth as fast as possible.

Smiling at the memories Usagi entered her room. Luna was asleep at the foot of her bed, on her back, front paws in the air. Usagi stifled a giggle at the Mau’s expense. Luna was usually so dignified that to see her in a position like that was comical. Thinking quickly, Usagi put the plate of food down as quietly as possible and grabbed her phone. She snapped a quick picture of Luna before the cat could wake up.

Blackmail material gained, Usagi went over and knelt down next to her bed. “Luna,” she called softly, not wanting to startle the cat awake, but Luna didn’t stir, “I have dinner,” she added. That earned her an ear twitch. “Luna,” she tried again a little louder and said Mau scrunched up her face and this time Usagi couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her.

Finally cracking an eye open, Luna half-glared at her from her upside down position, “I heard that,” she said, though Usagi could tell there wasn’t any malice in her voice.

Letting out a couple more giggles, Usagi calmed herself, still smiling she said, “Glad you’re awake, I brought you some dinner.”

With that she stood and grabbed the plate from where she’d put it on her vanity. Placing it on her bed next to Luna she plopped herself on one of the cushions around the small table in her room and dragged her schoolbag closer so she could get at the homework within.

“I hate not having thumbs,” Luna commented morosely before she dug into her food.

Usagi had to stifle giggles again. She didn’t need Luna mad at her for laughing at the Mau’s misfortune. With a small smile still on her face, Usagi spread her homework out before her. She knew she had a few minutes before Luna started asking questions and figured she might as well get a start on things before her Luna-interrogation.

Ten minutes later, Luna had finished her plate of food, “Your oka-san really is an amazing cook,” she said as she washed her face with her paw. Sometimes Usagi forgot that her old mentor and friend wasn’t in the body of a person like her and then Luna would do something so feline-like that Usagi would be forced to remember that the only way Luna could regain her humanoid form was in dreams until she found the Ginzuishou.

“She always has been,” Usagi replied after a moment as she had been struggling with an algebra problem.

“So how did it go today?” Luna asked as she finished her wash and jumped from bed to table to sit next to Usagi’s literature textbook.

“Good,” Usagi said, “I managed to avoid Rei’s tempter, which I think is just as bad as it used to be,” she added with a smile.

“Well that’s an accomplishment all on it’s own,” Luna replied and Usagi could hear the mirth in her voice.

Usagi’s face fell and she began fiddling with her pencil, “Her memories hit her hard though,” Usagi said quietly. “She had fought to the last, like Ami had, but at the same time, because of her fiery spirit, she didn’t back down, even as she was dying.”

Luna came and butted her head against Usagi’s chin in a kitty kiss. “You couldn’t have saved them then,” Luna said comfortingly.

“She had bottled up the emotions from my death and had used them to fight Jadeite,” Usagi continued quietly. “She cried when she regained her memories and recognized us. All the emotion from back then had bubbled to the surface again.” Usagi looked down and away, she felt guilty for all that had happened to them. Beryl’s jealously of her and Endymion’s love back then had driven her to take power from Mettalia and it had led to her kingdom’s ruin. “It was the first time I’d ever seen Mars cry. I never saw her cry before, and though I have only known her a couple days in this life, she doesn’t seem like someone who cries easily.”

“Oh Usagi,” Luna said comfortingly. Usagi turned to regard the Mau when she felt Luna’s paw on her cheek. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “What happened, would always have happened, that it happened in your lifetime is what makes it so hard. You might have acted rashly back then, but look what a wonderful young woman you’ve grown into now. I don’t think you would do the same thing again.”

“I won’t,” Usagi said with a quiet fierceness. “I’ve vowed to never let it happen again.”

If Luna could have smiled she would have. “I know you won’t,” She said. “Now, tell me what else you know about this Rei.”

Usagi smiled and related everything she had figured out on her own or Rei had told them (which, unfortunately wasn’t too much). She explained to Luna how she lived at the Hikawa shrine with her grandfather, what kind of powers she had without her memories and Usagi wondered how strong she would be now with her Senshi powers restored to her. Some of those bled over into their normal forms. Though Usagi realized that her magical ability had been getting stronger, she could feel the wellspring of power within her. She could feel two of them actually.

Back in the Millennium, they had used meditation to put them in touch with their magical abilities before learning how to use them. First you had to know how to access them and call them out before you could learn to mold and shape them. Now she could feel two sources of power within her. One was the familiar warmth of her magic and the other was warm as well, but in a different way, and Usagi knew it was the ability to be a Senshi that her mother had awakened within her.

Finally, Luna stopped asking questions. “She’s going to need her transformation wand,” Usagi said after they’d been sitting in a comfortable quiet for a while.

Luna’s reply was to jump off the table onto the floor. Taking a moment to position herself she then launched herself into a back flip. A small red wand appeared from Luna’s subspace pocket. “I was given the wands of Mercury, Mars and Jupiter,” Luna said as Usagi picked up the wand from where it had thumped onto the carpet. “Artemis was given Venus’,” she added.

“Wonder why you weren’t given it?” Usagi wondered out loud to herself.

“I don’t know,” Luna said and give a small shrug, “All I know is the three wands were in my subspace pocket when I awoke here on Earth. Queen Serenity had told Artemis to find Venus first and told me to find you first when we awoke,” she explained and then turned away.

Usagi could feel the sadness radiating off of the Mau.

“Oh, Luna,” Usagi said as she scooped the feline into her arms, “I didn’t mean to make you remember that,” she said quietly and apologetically. She figured that Luna had been with Queen Serenity at the end due to some things both had said, but she felt bad making Luna remember the queen’s death.

After a moment, Luna sniffed and said, “It’s alright, you didn’t mean to and it was a question that would have had to be answered eventually anyways.”

Usagi nodded and put the cat down. Luna jumped back onto the bed and curled up on her cushion. Usagi placed the wand on her table with her homework so that she wouldn’t forget it when she left in the morning. “I know,” Usagi said, a little sadly, “But still, we all have terrible memories from then and I feel bad about making you all watch my death. I wasn’t thinking straight, I might not have been thinking at all,” she added.

“I know,” Luna said. “And I don’t blame you. I don’t think anyone else does either.”

“I know, but I blame myself,” Usagi replied.

“I can’t tell you to stop blaming yourself,” Luna said. “Well, I can, but it won’t do any good,” she continued and caused Usagi to chuckle darkly. “But I can tell you that I know we all forgive you and that you can’t change the past, as much as you might want to, and so the only thing you can do is move forward.”

“You’re right,” Usagi said with an un-ladylike snort, “You usually are, but it’s hard.”

“Forgiving one’s self is always hard,” Luna replied.

Having no response to that Usagi went back to her homework. She slowly worked her way through it until after ten o’clock. Finally she headed downstairs to say goodnight to her parents. Shingo was already in bed. Goodnight’s over she headed back upstairs. After changing, she turned off her light and climbed into bed using the light from her window to see. The moon seemed bright to her that night, hanging low and slightly yellow on the horizon. Her eyes traced the outlines of the now-dry lake that the palace was resting on the shore of. Then her eyes traced the outline of the palace itself, it seemed so small from this distance, she couldn’t make out any of its many wings, but she could make out the perimeter wall and knew where the entrance was.

Slowly the day caught up to her and she drifted off to sleep, still facing the moon. Luna joined her soon after in dreamland.


End file.
